


Earp Wars

by bmovies212



Series: Earp Wars [1]
Category: Star Wars Original Trilogy, Wynonna Earp (TV)
Genre: AU Star Wars, AU Wynonna Earp, F/F, F/M, Weird West
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-23
Updated: 2019-11-11
Packaged: 2020-10-27 02:14:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 23
Words: 58,714
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20752640
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bmovies212/pseuds/bmovies212
Summary: Some time from now, in a galaxy somewhere, the orphaned barmaid/moisture farmer Wynonna Simons finds two droids, and those droids will launch her on a journey to confront her true identity, save an angelic princess, and discover everything she's been missing her entire life. Wynonna Earp characters in Star Wars-ish situations





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hi everyone! This is my first serious attempt at writing something in the realm of fanfiction, and it's a doozy. I'm not holding too fast to any rules of chapter length, just trying to tell the familiar story in as natural and new a way as possible. obviously, new characters means that some slightly different paths could end up being taken, but with luck we can still enjoy the ride together.
> 
> (One month later) Okay, it was just pointed out to me that in this chapter I described Jeremy as the taller of the droids when I've been writing him as smaller. Just edited that today, so hopefully this avoids further confusion

In the blackness of space, it was quiet. Here on the homestead, with the prime star still five hours from topping the horizon and the secondary burning brightly enough that the woman could make her path back home without falling (assuming she was sober), it was pretty much the same.

The system was very old, but those living on its sole habitable planet called it Purgatory. They felt this appropriate both for the conditions on the planet as well as the unchanging state of their lives. Humid air, high temperatures, and a lack of natural vegetation meant that those who chose to live here had to rely on trade or hunting to survive, which they did…barely.

During the day, temperatures would reach up to a sweltering ninety degrees. The twin suns powered solar-charged ovens inside or outside on the equally hot rocks whenever they wanted. The only real difference was that the ovens meant that you avoided the delightfully gritty added spice of sand, so most – but not all – elected to do it that way. The poorest residents, those who weren’t smart enough or lucky enough to have an actual building to live in, learned to accept a roughness and rawness to their meat when they cooked its corpse as much as was feasibly possible before eating. Those who found themselves in better situations hoarded as much meat as they could while thanking whatever gods they worshipped that they weren’t yet reduced to the circumstances of the other group.

Wynonna Simons took one last swig from the bottle she’d swiped before finding it empty and tossing it off into the desert where it broke with a satisfying _crash!_ It had been her day to run the bar in town while Robert – ‘Shorty’ to his friends and relatives, a group that Wynona was fortunate enough to include herself in ever since she was five years old – kept things intact back home. The moisture generator had been acting up, and if that broke down it meant that they’d be out of water. If that happened, they’d be shit out of luck until a replacement part could come in on the next transport a week from now, which for a bartender living in the desert with his alcoholic (according to him, anyway) ward-slash-waitress-slash-business partner may as well have been an eternity.

Looking around her, Wynonna saw all the signs of a residence that had been shut up for the night. Their single droid – an old C.H.A.M.P. (Cleaning, Hospitality, And Maintenance Protocols) unit that was about five years past its expiration date – had been shoved into its exterior charging slot, and frankly Wynonna couldn’t be happier with that. Lately the droid had started to forget its main purpose and instead would follow Wynonna around like a lovesick schoolboy, something that was not entirely her fault. After all, who knew that throwing a full case of beer at something would mess with its functionality that much? Not her, that’s for sure. She was a barmaid, not a mechanic.

Silently, Wynonna crept up to the main entrance and placed her palm on the data reader next to the door. There was a brief second while the system ran her print against its database of registered residents, and then…..

Nothing.

Wynonna stared at the machine, dumbfounded. She didn’t recall getting any extra DNA implanted in her or trading some skin follicles for extra money, so the machine should have been reading her fine. She tried a second time, and was again rejected, only this time she saw the message pop-up on the screen:

** UNREGISTERED USER **

** PALMPRINT NOT **

** VERIFIED **

“What the hell…” Wynonna muttered. Shorty had just installed this new lock system last week after a bunch of bandits had been reported in the area. They probably weren’t affiliated with any of the local gangs, and if it was a bunch of Clootie’s men a simple door lock wouldn’t stop them anyway. No, this was something a lot more basic, which meant that soon they’d need to be getting another lock. For the immediate future, though…..Wynonna looked around and saw a fair-sized rock nearby. Hefting it carefully, she positioned it just above the reader. After making sure of her aim, she brought the rock as high as she could. “Okay, Simons,” she said. “just a little b&e, nothing you haven’t been accused of before.” She brought the rock down and--

“What the _hell _are you doing, Wynona?”

The voice startled Wynonna so much that she whirled to face its source, missed her target, and ended up bringing the rock into her leg. Letting out a slightly stifled scream, she saw the stocky six-foot-nothing silhouette of Robert ‘Shorty’ Simons, her friend and boss and caretaker for the last twenty-one years. His graying hair and rough beard did nothing to hide the giant frown on his face as he waited patiently for an answer.

Not quite willing to give him the satisfaction of one, Wynonna adopted her standard attitude when dealing with authority figures: a complete lack of concern. “Oh, you know…..nice night, good breeze going, thought I’d take the time to give the old calves a workout, you know?”

Shorty simply raised his eyebrow. “By hitting them with rocks?”

“Yeah! Yeah, I was reading something on the holoweb about how it’s important to have good tough legs when you spend so much time in the desert and walking nearly everywhere—”

“We have a speeder.”

“Uh, no, _you_ have a speeder, which stays with you when I’m working because I get drunk so often, isn’t that what you said?” Wynonna allowed herself a small grin at this deft turnaround.

Shorty seemed to realize this. “Okay, fair enough….but that still doesn’t explain why you’re getting home in time for primary rise and preparing to smash in a lock you don’t even have access to.”

“Oh, well, that’s easy. I was…..wait,” Wynonna trailed off as the second part of Shorty’s statement registered. “Who doesn’t have access to what now?”

“As of 1:00 A.M., Wynonna Simons is officially relegated to guest status. That means no unauthorized entry unless a homeowner is present, and then only if during daylight hours.”

“Shorty….Pops….” Wynonna tried to reason with him, but didn’t quite know what to say. They both knew she wasn’t actually his daughter and a formal adoption had never taken place after her parents and sister were killed all those years ago. She had been living with her family’s old friend for most of her life, though, and at some point a semi-parental relationship had formed.

Now, though, it looked like the flipside of that was in effect. “I’m sorry, Wynonna. Maybe in a month or so I can put you back in, but until then, you just….you just gotta learn to step up and be responsible, you know?”

“Responsible like who? Daddy?” Wynonna laughed, not bothering to hide the bitterness in her voice. “Yeah, if he’s my model for responsibility, maybe I’m better off drunk off my ass. At least that way—” Wynonna stopped, not wanting to relive that night. She ran inside and headed for what was hopefully her unit. The door slid open and she went in, trying to will the memories away

_There’s seven of them, all at least twice her size. Daddy had gone for his special gun, but the small one was on him so quick it was as though he simply blurred over there in a way her young mind can’t quite comprehend. She doesn’t know if he’s alive or dead or somewhere inbetween. All she knows is that her family is down to her and Willa now. _

_Willa looks at her in their hiding spot off the main hall and she knows that her big sister has immediately gone through all this and worked out what they need to do to survive. Willa mouths, “Get the gun. I’ll distract them,” and then is off like a shot. Wynonna, barely six years old, is in awe at the speed of her older sister as she shouts like a madwoman and tries to lead the revenants – men that have had god knows what done to them by the demon ruler Clootie – outside. Wynonna dashes to her father's safe and quickly keys in the combination. She hears crying from somewhere, but can’t tell if it’s from inside or outside or even her own body. The safe opens, and there lies Peacemaker, a simple blaster pistol that had supposedly been in their family for a hundred years and could fire blasts hotter than every other gun combined. She grabs it, and heads outside_

Wynonna snapped herself out of the memories, no doubt brought on due to the combination of booze and the fight with Shorty. She looked out her window and saw a distant lightstorm in the sky. Maybe the suns were messing with the atmosphere. Maybe some awesome space battle was taking place. Maybe…

“Maybe you’re just a worthless drunk,” Wynonna finished. With a giant sigh, she flopped onto her bed and closed her eyes, hoping against hell that her memories wouldn’t follow her into sleep.

In the blackness of space, it was quiet. Science had long since proven that it was impossible for sound to travel in an airless void. However, other things could travel in that airless void. Spaceships, for instance. There were currently two of them about twenty thousand miles above the surface of Purgatory. One ship, the _Angel, _was of a distinctly small size. It had been built mainly for transport of important people, and while it did have a few basic armaments, it was nowhere near as strong as the ship moving to overtake it even now, the _Svane._

In the _Angel_’s corridors, the entire crew was on red alert. Almost every crew member was rushing towards the back of the ship, where the enemy forces would enter. The only exceptions were two beings who, despite some level of self-awareness, were not technically human. The smaller of the two, who at least looked human, was known simply as Jeremy. Despite his human appearance, his body had been broken up in the hopes of enhancing his physicality so much that under his skin was nothing but metal plates and wires. The sum effect of this was that he was able to last longer than any normal human without sleep or food and could now survive almost any environment and analyze situations much faster than a normal human could.

The downside to this, obviously, was that he no longer needed sleep and was able to spout technobabble non-stop to anyone and anything within the sound of his voice. For instance, when a large thump sounded over the ship, Jeremy turned to his companion, a stocky droid that officially had the designation DLS-X (Data and Logistics, Series X) but called simply ‘Dolls’ by everyone, and said, “Okay, Dolls? You heard that right? That definitely sounded like them punching a hole in the ship, didn’t it?”

“Negative”, said Dolls, his carefully modulated voice giving the impression of someone who was all business. “The revenant ship has merely pulled us aboard. They should be coming in within the next ninety seconds.” An insistent beeping began sounding, and Dolls moved off.

“Okay,” said Jeremy. “Ninety seconds. that gives us time to hide or evacuate or—” He turned and realized he was talking to no one. Picking up Dolls’ track, he ran after, cursing, “Okay, this is seriously the last time I take a job aboard anything with guns.” He rounded a corner and stopped when he saw Dolls just ahead. The droid’s back was to him, but it looked as though someone was talking to him. The figure pushed a button on the side of Dolls’ head and he resumed function. Dolls nodded once and moved toward Jeremy, who had the briefest glimpse of—

“Princess Waverly! Hey! We need to—mmmpph!!” Dolls slapped an arm around Jeremy’s mouth and dragged him away. ‘We have been ordered to evacuate to the planet below us by the princess.”

“oh, good, that’s – wait, what about the princess? She’s just back there!” Jeremy struggled to break loose of the larger droid, but despite his enhancements he may as well have done nothing at all. Dolls kept a firm grip on him until they reached the escape pods. He dropped Jeremy to the floor and said, “Activate.”

Jeremy struggled to his feet. “Wha….what?”

“The escape pods require authorization. As full crew, you have authorization. Activate.”

“Oh, well, I don’t know about full crew. With these enhancements, who knows what I am?”

Dolls looked at him, his face settling into a frown as he absorbed this information. “The princess—”

“Look! Two more! Get them!”

The shout came from the end of the corridor, where two revenants had suddenly appeared. “Okay, open pod, good enough for me!” Jeremy squealed as he went to work trying to override the controls and hoping he wouldn’t be locked out. Barely five seconds later, though, the pod was sliding open invitingly and Jeremy smiled. “Hey, Dolls, look! I got…..it.”

The devastation in the corridor was impressive, to say the least. Nearly every surface was either glowing red or melting. the revenants who had spotted them were lying on the floor, groaning in pain. They would no doubt heal, as they always did, but Jeremy was betting it would be at least a week before they were moving comfortably again. Jeremy looked worriedly at Dolls, whose eye sockets seemed to glow briefly. Jeremy quickly smiled and said, “Activated.”

Dolls nodded once. “Good. Come.” Dolls walked swiftly into the pod and took a seat. after one more check to make sure they weren’t followed, Jeremy got in and closed the hatch. he keyed the release and eyed Dolls carefully. “So…” he said, trying to keep the silence from becoming too awkward. “Any guesses how dangerous this planet is?” Dolls said nothing and simply stared out the porthole at the planet they would soon be on. Jeremy sighed and said, “Yeah, probably pretty bad.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wanted to get this up to keep things moving. there's a little fighting and a minor character death, but it's basically a redshirt. Also, we get to meet a couple more familiar faces. Huzzah! Sorry if it's a short one, but the next couple should be longer and that plus their content should make up for it.

Once upon a time, there had been a man.

He was a good man – shirt tucked in, spoke properly, treated everyone with respect. Then one day he found himself between a holy man of law and a lawful man of God and ended up getting shot for it….and by the man of God, no less. The holy man took pity on the good man and saved him, along with countless others. He did things that both preserved the good man’s life and made him stronger, filling him with a light and strength that may not have strictly been God’s, but was definitely God-like. From that day, the good man, who had been known by the name of Robert, abandoned his birth name of Svane and became Robert Del Rey, or Robert of The Light, although most simply called him Del Rey.

Presently, Del Rey was surveying the destruction his men had left in the corridors of the _Angel_. Taking a deep whiff, he could tell that nearly everyone in the ship was already dead, and those that weren’t soon would be, either by bleeding out or by his hand. That wouldn’t do, at least not until he had gotten everything he came for. Leaving his bodyguards, Del Rey stalked to the end of the corridor and stopped at one body.

“Get up,” he said, his voice a low growl.

The body remained as still as ever. Losing his patience, Del Rey reached down and picked up the body, then held it over his head. The aged crewman yelped pathetically, and Del Rey brought him close to his face. “Not following instructions is rude. Next time, listen. Understand?” The crewman stared at him in fear, and Del Rey’s eyes glowed a hellish red. He roared and threw the crewman against a far wall. Before the crewman could recover, Del Rey was on him and smashed him against first one wall, then the opposite wall, then the ceiling once more. “_DO….YOU…..UNDERSTAND?_”

“Yes! Yes, I…I understand…sir.” Acquiescence and understanding filled the doomed crewman’s eyes, and Del Rey grinned. “Good,” he said, the glow leaving his eyes and his manner becoming calm once more. “We are looking for two things. if you let us have them, there’s a much better chance of you leaving this ship in one piece.” Del Rey looked at the crewman once more, and saw that his attention was solely on Del Rey. Good. “The princess and the plans. Where are they?”

“I….I don’t know.” The glow returned to Del Rey’s eyes, but before he could act the old man shouted, “Please! Don’t! All I know is we picked up some communication, but no one but the princess ever saw it. She made sure of that.”

Del Rey thought this over. “Fine,” he said. “What about her worship? Where is she?”

Remarkably, the old man laughed. “Her? With your maniacs running all over this place? Probably dead already, assuming she hasn’t run off.”

“She wouldn’t flee her own men, you geriatric buffoon…..and as for men…” Del Rey summoned his strength, stuck his hand into the crewman’s mouth, and pulled until it snapped off. “At least mine are loyal.” He contemplated the jaw in his hand for a moment, and then dropped it onto the corpse. “Two pieces. You made out pretty well, all things considered.”

A laser blast hit the bulkhead just behind him, and Del Rey recoiled from the sparks that flew up. A single pair of footsteps took off deeper into the ship, and his men drew their own weapons. “NO!” he shouted. “She’s no good to us dead. Leave her to me.” Del Rey took off in pursuit. Right, then left, another right…..there. “_WAVERLY!_” he shouted, and the figure, Princess Waverly Gibson, stopped running and turned, her pistol pointed right at him. She was small, and her long brown hair, with a shade brightening it ever so slightly, was knotted into a single bun at the back of her head. Her white dress flowed gently down her thin frame, and one could be forgiven for thinking she was easy prey until they noticed her eyes. Those eyes promised a ferocity that was just waiting to be unleashed…..unleashed, say, on him. “Where are you running, little angel? _Why _are you running?”

“You killed them. All of them.” Her voice hitched, and for a moment Del Rey thought he saw tears forming. “They were good men, they did nothing wrong, and—"

“They were untrue. They fired on my men, and they kept me from getting to you.”

“Well, if that’s all it was…” Waverly pulled the trigger on her pistol, and Del Rey grunted as the red beam lanced into his chest. Waverly tried to run past him, but Del Rey grabbed her and held her tightly. He laughed as the laser burn began to heal, a benefit of his enhanced physiology, which was itself a benefit bestowed on him by Lord Clootie. “Firing on an agent of the lord, stealing from the church…oh, my sweet young princess, I believe you just became a traitor.” Del Rey whistled, and immediately his guards appeared. “The princess is coming with us,” he said, tossing her at the nearest with little ceremony. “Find her accommodations until we reach our destination. Oh,” he added as the group turned to leave. “No need to worry about comfort levels. She is a prisoner, after all.”

The combination of fear and hatred on Princess Waverly’s face was like a soothing balm to Del Rey. She marched off the ship, staying just ahead of her captors, still managing to look like a leader. Behind him, one of his lieutenants, Malcolm, approached. “Boss, we got a problem.”

“I don’t like problems, Malcolm,” said Del Rey, turning to face him. “What is it?”

“We’ve searched every inch of this crate. There’s no sign of the plans anywhere.”

Del Rey sighed. “I don’t suppose it occurred to any of you idiots that the plans would be electronic?”

“Well, I got Bubs going through their whole system, but he says so far there’s no sign of them.”

“Wonderful,” Del Rey sighed. “Any other good news?”

“Not really, though there is one weird thing.” Malcolm paused, as if wondering if what he had to say was worth it, then he shrugged. “Just before the ship was fully docked, an escape pod shot off towards the planet.”

Del Rey grabbed Malcolm. “So someone survived?”

“No, that’s what’s weird, boss. First thing Bubs did when he got into the system was pull up a crew list, and from what I can tell, everyone’s here on the ship.”

Del Rey released Malcolm. “Everyone?”

“Yeah. I mean, the manifest says there’s also a droid or two, and we haven’t seen them yet, but they gotta be here somewhere.”

“Yes….but do they?” Del Rey reached out with his mind, searching the ship for any metal object more than a foot tall. Computers, weapons, monitors……but no droids. “Clever little princess….”

Malcolm’s face scrunched up in confusion. “Boss?”

Del Rey smiled in delight. “She put the plans in the droids and the droids in the pod. Get some men together and head planetside to retrieve them. This time….” Del Rey’s eyes flashed, and Malcolm stepped back nervously. “This time, nothing will stop us.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just adding that there was a tiny western/gaming-related joke in there with Robert's name, specifically his initials. If you get it, mention it in the comments. Sometimes I'm just amusing myself.


	3. Chapter 3

“Well….this place is definitely tops on my ‘never visit’ list.”

Jeremy stood outside the crashed escape pod and surveyed the desolate landscape around them. There was sand to the south, sand and rocks to the west, rocks to the north, and, just for the hell of it….more sand to the east. Behind him, Dolls performed his own survey of the landscape. “I don’t know, Dolls….there’s nothing here. Maybe the princess was just trying to junk us herself in a more humane fashion than those revenants would have.”

“We are not human,” Dolls replied, as blunt as ever. “In any case, the mission is too important for us to be destroyed.” Coming to a decision, Dolls began moving west, towards what looked like a small canyon. “There are several small settlements in that direction. Come.”

“If by settlements you mean empty caves, sure. Look, why don’t we just keep going this way?” Jeremy pointed towards the empty expanse before them. “Smooth, no rocks, just a lot of nice sand everywhere. Easy to travel, right?”

Dolls ignored Jeremy and kept moving towards the canyon. “The mission requires us to move towards people. Rock formations are likely to be a place where organic beings concentrate.”

“Okay,” said Jeremy. “That’s the second time you’ve mentioned some mystery mission. Is there something going on I should know about?”

“Negative.”

“Can you tell me what Princess Waverly was giving you when we left?” Dolls remained silent. “Okay, that’s great. We’re on a secret mission that I can’t know about for reasons you won’t say to do a thing that will probably get us in more trouble on a planet that has us already starting to melt. Fine, that’s….You know what?” Jeremy began moving down the sandy path again. “Go towards your canyon. I’ll bet every wire I own that you’ll be broken down and alone and wishing you listened to me within a day.”

Dolls looked towards the canyon and then back at his quickly diminishing partner. “I need…”

“Nope!” said Jeremy. “I’m done with danger and rocks and monsters and getting shot at and….all of it! When _I_ find help, maybe I’ll come back for you, but until then, we’re done.” Jeremy continued his march into the desert, and Dolls stared after him, his programming warring with his parameters. Reluctantly turning aside, he resumed his slow walk to the west.

An hour later, Dolls had reached the canyon. From what his sensors could pick up, it seemed that Jeremy had been right – the canyon was spectacularly empty of any kind of life. There was an old dried-up riverbed, but the readings he took indicated that the last time water flowed through here was more than five hundred years ago. Additionally, the suns were low on the horizon, which meant that in the best-case scenario Dolls would have to pick his way through a darkened canyon with an extreme reduction in visibility. The other option would be to pull into a nearby cavern and shut down until morning.

Pushing forward, Dolls resumed scanning his surroundings, intent on locating either some kind of track or a large enough hiding spot. He progressed another hundred metres when his audio receptors heard a sort of scuttling noise. Dolls stopped and scanned the environment again. Where there had been nothing before, he suddenly picked up the outlines of three creatures. The smallest of the three pointed something in his direction, and—

Blackness.

Jeremy wandered through the desert, determined to find some sign of civilization and not resort to turning around, finding Dolls, and admitting that he was wrong. It had been almost three hours since they parted ways, night was coming on rapidly, and Jeremy’s mood had grown considerably more pessimistic. His chosen path had definitely been easy travel – no one could deny that – but it had also been utterly lacking in any sign of…._anything_. “Stupid….confident….know-it-all droid. This is all his fault,” Jeremy muttered. “’A super-important mission’, he said. ‘It’s for the princess’, he said. ‘You’re not as intelligent as you are handsome’, he probably said. Well, fine. But who launched us at a totally empty space rock without a solid plan? Not me, that’s for sure. I don’t need him,” he said, his voice carrying a confidence his eyes didn’t match.

The loneliness wasn’t his only problem. the darkening sky meant that Jeremy would soon need to switch over to night-vision if he wanted to see anything, and that would be another drain on his battery. He might have increased endurance from when he was a normal human, but even he needed to recharge occasionally, at least for a few hours, and the middle of a desert was hardly the optimal place to do that, or even a potential place. If his backup battery hit zero percent, all his electronic parts would shut down, and he would have to literally drag himself forward on body strength alone, which frankly wasn’t that much to begin with.

“Nope, that’s not happening,” he said, and quickened his pace, more determined than ever to find something. The top of the next dune was just a dozen meters ahead, and from what he could tell there was a miniature valley beyond that, which should give him a decent view of the surrounding plain. With any luck….

“Yes!”

An enormous metal vehicle sat at the bottom of the hill. It was about twenty feet tall, half again as long, ran on treads and seemed to be made of nothing but angles. The cab at the front where the driver sat was about half as high as its load and was of a much more sensible size and shape, but it still managed to dwarf Jeremy. “I knew I was right, I knew I was right…..HEY!” Jeremy shouted and began waving his arms and running towards the machine. “HEY! OVER HERE! CUTE CYBORG IN NEED OF ASSISTANCE!”

Floodlights lit up the valley, and Jeremy sighed in relief, running up towards the cab. “Oh, am I glad I ran into you fellas,” he said, as the door to the cab opened. “I have been wandering out there for the past……hours, and I was literally about to be compleely….out…..of….”

The driver of the transport got out. He was approximately seven feet tall, and muscles bulged out of his tight fitting clothes. His blue skin drew most of the focus, until one noticed the giant horns ringing his head. Even if he had been surrounded mostly by standard organic humans for most of his life, Jeremy was smart enough to recognize a blue devil, one of the least reputable people in the galaxy and a race known for the illicit selling of nearly any material or product they could find.

_Nearly…..any….material…_

_Any……oh, shit_ “Um….okay….sir….thanks for your help, I feel a lot less lonely now.” Jeremy began backing away from the behemoth that approached him. “I’m just gonna skedaddle. I’m sure you’ve got places to be and money to make, you don’t need a totally ordinary human like me coming along and messing up whatever plans you might have. You have a nice night, though, okay?” Jeremy turned and before he could move, two more devils had jumped off the back of the transport and were approaching him from behind. “Oh, hell,” he said, now backing up the way he came. The driver clapped a hand on his shoulder and stopped him from going any further. One of the two new arrivals pulled out a scanner and held it to Jeremy’s head. “Hey, be careful with that! Those things put out all sorts of dangerous energy, I’ll have you know.”

“_Lu, jih sov_,” said the creature. “_Nid not to vih_.” The devil pressed a button on the scanner and turned to his companion. “_Cyborg. Kind of moq up, ‘ach still worth vay_.”

‘Oh, no, I’m totally worthless,” said Jeremy, trying to talk his way out of this. “Really, even my best friend left me a few hours ago, so—” The words stopped coming from Jeremy’s mouth as one of the devils slapped a metal plate over his mouth. They roughly carried him towards the cargo area and the two more recent arrivals threw him in back and secured him to the side of the vehicle. Jeremy looked around and saw several robots strewn about in various states of repair. There were also a few weapons, some basic tools, and—

“Hello…Jeremy.”

Dolls was propped up against the other wall, his legs bound with chains to keep him from moving. Jeremy tried to speak and tell him everything that had happened, but the plate was stuck on tight. Understanding, Dolls nodded and switched to electronic communications

**-Are you damaged?**

**-A little dirty and I feel close to melting, but otherwise fine. You?**

**-Movement inhibited, but all primary systems are functional.**

**-Good. So, has your mission gone sideways enough to tell me what’s happening yet?**

**-Affirmative. I will explain what I can without betraying the trust of the princess.**

**-Okay, good enough. Why are we here?**

**-I need to deliver a message from the princess to someone.**

**-Really? That’s it?**

**-Affirmative.**

**-Well, what’?**

**-Classified.**

**-Okay….well, can you at least tell me who we’re looking for?**

**-………**

**-Dolls?**

**-……..Holliday.**

**-…..You’re looking for a holiday?**

**-Affirmative.**

**-Well, which one? There’s…quite a few.**

**-John Henry Holliday.**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For those of you who are curious, the language I used for the Blue Devils (our Jawa stand-ins) is actually an internet-translated Klingon. The translation is
> 
> -Yes, I know.
> 
> -Try not to move.
> 
> -Cyborg. A little beat up, but still worth something.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was a fun one to write. I got way more pleasure out of writing a certain bit (you'll know the one) than I should have (sorry, Wynonna!). Small detail: for the language that pops up halfway through the chapter, I ended up using internet-translated Klingon. Those interested will find translations at the end of the chapter

“Wynonna! Wake up!”

Wynonna blearily opened her eyes and wondered what time it was. The sun was shining brightly through her window, so it was at least midmorning. She groaned and rolled out of bed.

“WYNONNA!”

“I’m coming! Hold on a minute!” She grabbed her red slip and black cover from the floor where they had landed last night and threw them on. she contemplated some leggings briefly, then thought _Screw it. He wants me up bad enough to shout after locking me out, he can deal with a little ass. _She ventured into the main room and saw Shorty getting ready to head into Purgatory City, the main – scratch that, _only_ – transportation and commercial hub on the planet. “You bellowed?”

“I did. Thought you might want an early start on the fields.”

“Fields? Really? They’re air-sucking pipes, Shorty, not giant grasslands of pollen and animal shit.”

“Call ‘em what you want, they’re your duty for today and you know it. Once you finish getting dressed, check the southeast patch and see if the filter is still acting up. If it is, try to make it last until noon. Either way, the tank should be rolling through this area later. If we’re lucky, they’ll have the parts we need on there.

Wynonna scoffed. “All those idiots do is pick up space junk and sell it to rubes. You really think they’d have _anything_ that could help us?”

“Yeah, well….” Shorty shrugged. “Just see what you can find, okay? Maybe we’ll—”

“Get lucky, right. Just make sure you’re back before whatever bullshit curfew time you have that lock set for, okay? I don’t wanna get locked out of my house _by _my house while I’m _at _my house.”

Shorty looked hurt by that, and seemed about to say something else – a weak explanation, an apology, a reprimand. Instead, he turned and went out the door and into the sunlight. Wynonna cursed and fled back into her room, slamming the door behind her. She let out a frustrated scream and punched the plasticine walls. the absorbent material showed no permanent damage, and by the time Wynonna drew her fist back it was already returning to its natural shape. She punched it again and again and–

_–again, but the bodies just absorb the laser blasts like she’s firing water at them. Willa sees and says, “You’re doing it wrong, dummy! You have to hold it the right way!”_

_“I am holding it the right way!” she shouts back._

_“Then why is it – oh, just let me!” Willa shoves her to the ground and pulls the gun out of her hand. She inspects the gun and says, “Oh, for….the passcode! Wynonna, you forgot the passcode!”_

_“Willa, hurry up! They’re almost out of range!”_

_“I know!” Willa raises the barrel of the gun to her lips and breathes on it. “Make your—” _

_Something slams into Willa from behind and sends both her and the gun sprawling. Wynonna recovers first and sees one more revenant, a straggler who missed the group that carried Daddy off. He’s almost totally bald, has a fire-red goatee, and wears a maroon scarf around his neck. “Well, lookie here….” he says menacingly. “You know, the other boys thought they’d finished, but I knew I smelled something, and now I know what it is…..” He grins at Wynonna and then turns his attention to the prone form of Willa struggling to push him off. He laughs and says, “Baby shit and wet diapers.”_

_“Fuck you, Red,” Willa spits out. She slams her head into the man and screams, “WYNONNA! FIND THE GUN!”_

_“WYNONNA, FIND THE GUN!” The revenant laughs and stares at Wynonna. “You wait right there, little girl. Me and your sister gotta finish our date, but I’ll deal with you straight after, you hear?” The revenant gets up and moves off, carrying a kicking-and-screaming Willa towards the house. Wynonna looks to her left and sees the gun, mere inches away. She picks it up and with no hesitation speaks “Make your peace” into the barrel. A special mechanism clicks in the gun, and the whole thing begins to grow warm in her hands. She looks around and can barely see the main raiding party. She wants to go after them, but by the time she catches up…._

_Decision made, Wynonna heads down the path after Red. She rounds the corner in time to see him slam Willa against the side of the shed where their vehicle is stored. She doesn’t speak, doesn’t give a warning, barely gives a thought to aiming. She simply lifts the gun and pulls the trigger, only this time a brilliant blue light emerges from the barrel, the plasma superheated well beyond a laser pistol’s normal specifications. She fires again and again and again until—_

–she’s spent. Wynonna sobbed, and tears of rage and frustration at everything that happened that night – everything that went wrong – dripped down her face. Breathing hard, she opened her eyes and looked at the damage. Although the wall was fine (_God bless modern technology_, she thought wryly), there was also a large red spot on it where her fists had impacted on the wall of her room – the room that once upon a time she had shared with her older sister. She stared at her own hands and saw they were cracked open and bleeding profusely. She ran to the sink and turned it on full, washing the blood off. She turned it off and grabbed some wrappings and sealant from a nearby cupboard. She threw the sealant on her wounds, and then covered them with wrappings – a tiny batch around each finger, and some more sealant to hold the wrappings together so she could heal proper.

Her immediate problem taken care of, Wynonna went outside into the heat. Thankfully, it was only a small furnace today, and she could walk without getting soaked. That was bad news for the collection buckets – days like this, they barely got enough to cover basic plumbing, let alone the special batch at the bar – but good news for her, since it meant she would only have misery from one direction today. _Well_, she amended, working the pain out of her hands and looking with loathing at the shed and what lay within it. _Maybe two. _Sighing, she went to the ramshackle building and pulled open the door. Although it was big enough to technically serve as a second house, the shed these days was only used to hold two things – Shorty’s speeder, which was currently with him in town, and C.H.A.M.P.

Theoretically, C.H.A.M.P. was supposed to be there to carry heavy loads, assist with fixing things, and keep the inside clean. In practice, however, that didn’t quite take. Neither Wynonna nor Shorty cared much about how clean the inside was, and their own particular blend of businesses meant that whenever a new load was needed at the bar, it just was thrown into speeder, which meant a total journey of at most three hundred steps – fair for a human, but barely anything for a droid. Thus it was that a few months ago, after one particularly bad binge, Wynonna thought it would be funny to have him clean the barn while she was drinking and throwing more bottles around, creating more of a mess. Nothing harmful in that…..except that her last bottle had been six, her drinks had been many, and her aim had been spot-on. Now….Wynonna turned off the charger and waited for the droid to boot up.

After a minute had passed with no activity, Wynonna smacked C.H.A.M.P.’s head. She winced as her injured hand connected, but it worked -- C.H.A.M.P. whirred to life and said, “Wynonna! How may you serve me?”

Wynonna sighed. This was the main problem – the droid had basically been turned into thinking that it was a pleasure droid. “Hi, C.H.A.M.P. Today, I was…” Wynonna swallowed hard. “I was hoping your big strong muscles could, maybe….put themselves to use for me?”

“Sure thing, beautiful! You just tell me where you want me.”

“Okay, well….you know those big old fields out there?”

C.H.A.M.P. smiled at her…or at least, she thought he did. It was hard to tell with a face like that. “Oh, I do.”

“Okay, I need—” Wynonna stopped as she heard a rumbling in the distance, followed by a loud engine. “Oh, thank Christ,” she said, and ran outside. Sure enough, the Blue Devil’s mobile chop shop and supply store had just pulled up outside. Wynonna ducked back into the shed and said, “You know what? Change of plans. Come with me and don’t say anything.” Wynonna pulled the smiling droid outside and said to the driver, “Hey! What can I get for a pleasure droid?”

“_Be’nal qaq, chaq_?” the driver said with a laugh. His fellows nearby found this comment equally amusing.

“Oh, a wife, okay. Ha ha ha.” Wynonna threw C.H.A.M.P. at the driver and dropped any pretense of friendliness. “Look, asshole, I need a new filtration system—”

“_Pagh ay dahjaj, jaw. Qu’vetlh droids.”_

Wynonna sighed. “Only droids.”

“_Hija’. Neh woh wa’ chu’ wa’Hu’. Chaq toy’ nis.”_

“Yeah, keep my needs out of your head and show me what you got.” As the driver smiled wickedly, Wynonna realized what she said and cursed her injuries again. “Just…show me the droids, okay?” The driver grinned again and led her around back. They went up the lowered ramp and inside the cargo area where two more devils waited impatiently. _"Nuq nej soh?”_

“Basically, any kind of lifter. Maybe something like…” Wynonna trailed off as she saw one across from the driver’s friends. It was stocky and tough-looking and pretty much exactly what she needed. “That one.” The driver nodded and unlocked the legs of the DLS unit….a series ten, if she wasn’t mistaken. Not top-of-the-line, but close enough. “How’d you get something that fresh anyway?”

_“Qehcoh. Latlh vay bimenis?”_

“No, that’s—” She stopped talking as a sudden pounding behind the driver’s friends got her attention. Loser One and Loser Two looked at each other, and Wynonna said, “You got another friend back there?”

The driver looked nervous. _“Ghobe….ghaj neh ngo. Bisaschugh doch loq….”_

“Oh, an old ship. Yeah, that sucks.” Wynonna paused, and then grabbed the driver. “How about I take a look?” she said, and shoved the driver into his friends. The trio tumbled and Wynonna stepped over them to find…

“What the hell is this?” In front of her a small golden-brown-skinned man was chained to the wall with a metal plate stuck over his mouth. He saw her and immediately began struggling to get free again. She grabbed the driver and got right in his face. “Since when are you idiots in the business of slave trading, huh?”

_“Qo! Qo! Ghah wej human, ghah cyborg! Ghah—”_

“I don’t give a fuck if he’s the president of my ass! Cut him loose, get that plate off him, and let me and the two droids go, and _maybe_ I won’t report you to the laws for human trafficking!”

The devils paled as much as their blue skin would allow and quickly got all the restraints off both droids – well, the droid and the cyborg. As soon as the plate was off the smaller one’s mouth, he said, “Ohhhh my god, thank you so much! They picked me up twelve hours ago and chained me to the wall and I haven’t been able to move and I may have leaked some lubricant over the floor but I don’t know if that was me or if it was just there and—”

“Oh-_kayyyyyy_, Take it easy, there, Motormouth.” She faced the devils one last time. “We good?”

_“Hija, qaq. Wej nadev._” Wynonna smiled pleasantly at the trio and walked down the ramp, where the DLS unit was already waiting, his eyes focused intently on his former captors. Wynonna approached the robot and said, “Relax. They’re wimps. This point, they just wanna get moving and be far away from here. Come on.” Wynonna and Dolls moved off towards the barn. Jeremy lingered at the edge of the property, examining the piping. “Hey lady!” he shouted. “Did you know your filtration system is broken? I could probably—”

“Get in here or eat laser, metalman!”

“—fix it for you, if you want,” he finished lamely, following his partner and his new owner into the barn.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As promised, the translations. Not every word I wanted to use originally had an actual translation so I did have to do some editing, but in the end I got everything I needed. If you want to do your own, the site is https://www.translator.eu/english/klingon/translation 
> 
> \--A wife, maybe?
> 
> \--No parts today, lady. Only droids.
> 
> \--Yeah. Just got a new one yesterday. Might serve your needs.
> 
> \--What were you looking for? 
> 
> \--Got lucky. You need anything else?
> 
> \--No, it’s….an old ship. Things are falling apart…
> 
> \--No! No! He’s not human, he’s a cyborg, he—
> 
> \--Yeah, we’re good. Get out of here.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heavy drama ahead, people! Things are starting to happen.... (about time, too; compared to the movie, we're about a sixth of the way through the story now)

After much too long a wait, the smaller robot – _cyborg_, she reminded herself – joined Wynonna and Dolls in the barn. “Okay, introductions. My name’s Wynonna. This here is the Simons homestead, where you and—”

“Jeremy.”

“Fine; where you and Jeremy—”

“No, I’m Jeremy. He’s Dolls. Hi.” The cyborg extended his right hand forward.

Wynonna stared at the offered appendage as though it was a bomb. “What are you doing?”

Jeremy looked confused. “Introducing myself?”

“No, I mean what is _that?_” She pointed at Jeremy’s outstretched hand.

Jeremy smiled. “Oh, I get it. Sorry, new planet, new customs, sometimes it takes a minute. This is my hand, and what I’m doing is called a ‘handshake’. Basically, you put your hand in mine, like this….” Jeremy proceeded to maneuver his left hand into his right. “….and then we just pump them up and down until we’re each satisfied that the other doesn’t mean us harm.”

Wynonna gawked at Jeremy as if he just told her he could make the homestead achieve orbit. “_What?_”

“Yeah, I know, it can seem a little weird at first, but if you think about it it’s kind of like a miniature hug, and who doesn’t like hugs?”

“Okay, one: me. Two, I know what a handshake is, dude. What I’m asking is why you’re trying to give me one. I literally just bought you off a trading truck, so technically I own you.”

“Well, yeah, but that doesn’t mean we can’t be friends.”

Wynonna just shook her head. “Fine, whatever. Anyway, we’re basically a moisture form out here, so the main task is gonna be to keep the pumps and filters operating and then loading them up when we have enough to make a delivery into town….which I guess would be your job, Dolls.” The big droid said nothing but nodded once in acknowledgment of Wynonna’s words. Turning back to Jeremy, Wynonna said. “Okay, answer this in ten words or less. You said you knew our system was busted. Does that mean you can fix it?”

Jeremy nodded eagerly. “Yeah! It’s probably a much easier fix than you’d think.”

Wynonna held up a finger to keep the cyborg from saying more and went over what he said, pleased with the word count. “Great. How long do you think it would take you to get it running again?”

Jeremy’s mouth opened, then closed again. He looked at Wynonna and hesitantly asked, “Am I still operating under a ten-word sentence answer limit?”

She smiled briefly. “Think that was actually nine…but no. Let the words come.”

“Great!” said Jeremy brightly. “Obviously, I haven’t gotten an extensive look at your setup yet, so I can’t say for _sure_…” Wynonna’s face glowered, and he paled as much as he could. “….b-b-b-but it probably wouldn’t take me more than a couple hours. I’m _really_ good with machines.”

“Yeah, I guess you’d have to be wouldn’t you,” Wynonna muttered. “Okay, great. You get started on that, and—” A sudden beeping from Dolls’ chest interrupted her. “Oh, come on, what’s _your _problem now?”

“Oh, he’s probably overheated. It happens sometimes with him, and considering how long we were out in that desert….” Jeremy shook his head.

Wynonna caught what he said, though. “How long you….so you guys already know each other, than? Before the blue devils picked you up, I mean.”

Jeremy blanched. “Uh…yeah. We…kinda crashed here.”

Wynonna laughed bitterly. “So you guys are stolen. Figures.” She turned her attention to Dolls. “Alright, let’s see if we can get you working.” She looked around and saw a hammer nearby. Grabbing it, she said, “Now, I’m not the best robo-doctor, so if I break something important, sorry.” She positioned the hammer just above Doll’s left temple, brought it back, and smacked it just along the circuit line. “Okay, not bad. We—”

A stream of blue light shot out of Doll’s eyes and coalesced on the ground in front of Wynonna. The hologram showed a young woman, maybe six years younger than Wynonna. She looked up and said desperately, “Be who you once were, Mr. Holliday. Be a hero.” The woman glanced behind her and quickly made a move that would stop the recording. Two seconds later, she was back once more, again saying, “Be who you once were, Mr. Holliday. Be a hero.”

Wynonna stared at the woman, trying to make out details. She was well-dressed, so probably either a king’s daughter or someone equally rich. Her hair was a few shades lighter than Wynonna’s own, and she was probably a foot or so shorter. There was a small bulge beneath one side of her dress that Wynonna thought was either a blaster rifle or a VERY big laser pistol. _Girl’s got balls_, she thought quickly. The most telling feature, though, was her eyes. They were determined and strong, yes, but behind that….

“She looks…sad,” Wynonna said. Despite the fact that it was just a hologram, Wynonna felt an urge to reach out and hug the girl and tell her that everything would be all right. She looked at the two robots and said, “Do you know who she is?”

Dolls said nothing, and simply sat there, replaying the message over and over. Jeremy, meanwhile, looked thoughtful. “You know….she does look familiar. Don’t know who she is, but I’m almost positive she was on that ship we were on before getting here. It was really crowded, though, so don’t take my word for it.”

Dolls said something that Wynonna didn’t quite catch. “Sorry? You wanna repeat that?”

“Mission,” he said, his voice a low rumble that matched his dark covering.

“A mission, huh? Interesting.” Wynonna watched the recording another couple times. “Is there anything more to this?”

“Cranial plate exposure is negating functionality,” said Dolls.

Wynonna looked to Jeremy for a translation. Obligingly, he said, “He means that you smacking him with that hammer messed up his plate alignment. Put it back in place and he should have full control over everything again.”

“Oh, right. That.” Wynonna wielded the hammer delicately and tapped the cranial plate back into position. As soon as it was realigned, Dolls stood up and the image of the girl disappeared in mid-sentence. “Be who you once were, Mr. Holliday. Be a—”

“Hey, what the hell, man? Play that again!” shouted Wynonna.

“You have no messages waiting to be viewed,” said Dolls.

Wynonna brandished the hammer menacingly. “Oh, you…..you do not wanna piss me off today, buddy. What I did to those guys before? Yeah, that’ll be a cake walk compared to what I—”

“Wynonna! Where are you, girl?”

Shorty. _Shit_.

“In the barn, Shorty! Be right out!” Wynonna pulled out her chrono and saw that it was late afternoon, and nearly the whole day had gotten away from her. She turned to Dolls. “You, stay right there. Don’t move a single muscle, and yes, Jeremy, I know he doesn’t actually have muscles. It’s a figure of speech!” She turned to Jeremy, who was in the process of closing his mouth. “You get started on that filtration system and see if you can get it working before nightfall.” Jeremy gulped and actyally saluted before heading out to his assigned task. “Wait!” Wynonna called after him. “If Shorty says anything, you’re just a new model C.H.A.M.P. unit, okay?” Jeremy nodded. “Good. Go.”

Jeremy went out the main door, and Wynonna saw Shorty tracking him. She went outside and said simply, “New droid.”

“Doesn’t look like much of a lifter,” Shorty observed.

“He isn’t. I got rid of the old C.H.A.M.P. and traded up…or down….for that one.”

“Really?” Shorty actually looked impressed. “How’d you pull that off?”

“Turns out the market for pleasurebots is bigger than you’d think. I just told the devils what he was doing and they couldn’t wait to snatch him up. Gave me two for the trade, only…” Wynonna trailed off.

Shorty’s face hardened. “Only what?”

Wynonna sighed. “Okay, don’t be mad, but the DLS unit—”

“Wait, _what_? Wynonna, we don’t need a problem solver—”

“No, but that’s the thing! This guy? Fricking _huge_. He could probably bench press you if I told him to.”

“Okay, so what’s the problem?”

“He was a total blank slate. Had to reformat him and decompress his solenoids. He’ll be fine, but it might be a day or so before he’s ready to get to work.”

“A day, huh?” Wynonna nodded, praying that Shorty would be tired enough to believe her. “And that’s all? No other problems?”

_Yes! _Wynonna crowed internally at the victory. “Nope, none at all. Heck, Jeremy’s already out there checking the system. Said he’s got a pretty good idea on what the problem is and might even have it fixed tonight.”

“Jeremy?’

Wynonna cursed. “Jeremy, yeah…..the C.H.A.M.P. unit. I named him.”

“You…..named him.”

“Uh-huh.”

“You.”

“Yup.”

“…….Why?”

For a moment Wynonna’s mind was blank. “Oh….well….the last one was so unique, and this guy is a totally different look anyway. Just felt right, you know?” _Please don’t ask anything else, please don’t ask anything else, please don’t ask anything else, please…._

Shorty just sighed. “Alright, whatever. Just stay out here and supervise him. I’m gonna head inside and get dinner started.”

“Cool, I’ll—”

“Finished!”

Both humans turned and saw Jeremy walking over. Wynonna swore under her breath again and, gritting her teeth, said, “What’s going on, Jeremy? I thought you were gonna fix our system and that it was gonna take hours. Isn’t that what you said?”

“Uh, no. I said I didn’t know how long it would take until I got a look at it. Turns out there was a virus in the software sending a bad command. I patched my way around it, and _voila! _Working filter pipes.”

Shorty eyed the droid and said, “Okay….let’s test it then.” He walked over to the switch that activated the evaporators, and as soon as he was out of earshot, Wynonna grabbed Jeremy by the collar. “What are you _doing_?”

“I fixed the pipes! I thought you said—”

“There is no _way_ that you fixed those things that—” A soft whirring interrupted Jeremy’s sentencing as the filtration system came to life. Wynonna stared in shock as Shorty whooped. “Alright! Finally, some good luck! Good job with that droid, Wynonna!” Jeremy smiled at the older man’s happiness, and Wynonna dropped him in the dirt. He picked himself up and said, “So does this mean I can stay?”

“Well, I own you don’t I? Guess you have to. Just consider yourself on probation for….” Wynonna shrugged and walked off. Jeremy followed after her, asking, “Probation for how long? Wynonna? What does that even mean?”

A few hours later, Jeremy was busily cleaning inside the homestead, Shorty was loudly proclaiming that that was the best dinner he’d had in months, and Wynonna was wondering if it would be possible to shoot them both and steal that message from Dolls without anyone noticing. She could definitely take Jeremy, but Shorty was a little wiser to her tricks. Maybe if she waited until he was asleep….

“Credit for your thoughts, Wy?”

Wynonna jumped, a little surprised at the use of her childhood nickname. Shorty only ever used that when he was in a particularly good mood. “Wow,” she said. “That dinner really must have gone over well. You can barely move.”

“Oh, I’m fine….though for the life of me I don’t know how that little guy managed to make so much out of the little we had. Goddamn miracle worker, is what he is.” Shorty chuckled as Jeremy came into the room, obviously having caught the compliment. “You’re alright, C.H.A.M.P.”

“Thank you, sir. I’m glad you approve.” He turned to Wynonna. “All the chores are done. If it’s alright, I thought I’d retire to the barn to check on Dolls.”

“Yeah, sure, go ahead,” Wynonna waved, and Jeremy actually bowed before exiting. Despite herself, she laughed. Shorty noticed, “Well, speaking of things we haven’t heard in a while….”

“You’re just drunk,” she said.”

“That’s true, that’s very true…..but not so drunk that I can’t tell when something’s bugging my girl. What’s on your mind?”

Wynonna sighed. “Well……okay, but you gotta promise not to be mad.”

“Wynonna…”

“It’s nothing bad, I promise, and _definitely_ nothing that could be my fault…..probably.”

Shorty got up and made to go to his bedroom. “Wynonna, I am too drunk for this. Just spit it out.”

“Okay,” Wynonna said. “I think those droids might possibly potentially be….stolen.”

Shorty gave her a look normally reserved for idiots who figured out basic math. “Really. The devils sold stolen droids to you.”

“Okay, fine, yes, that is their usual m.o. It’s just….the DLS unit had a message in him.”

“A message?”

“Yeah, for some guy named John Henry Holliday. I never heard of him, but I figure maybe we track down that old guy Doc, and maybe _he _could—”

Shorty’s fist slammed the wall next to Wynonna’s head. “No.”

Wynonna looked at Shorty. She’d never seen him this mad….and all over a name? “Shorty, what—”

“John Holliday hasn’t been heard from for years, and that bastard hermit deserves to be buried in the ground. What he did to your father, getting him killed like that—”

“He did what?”

Shorty stopped, realizing too late what he had said. “It doesn’t matter, Wynonna. Holliday is gone, and the less said about him the better.”

“Are you serious right now?” Wynonna said. “You’re saying that Doc was there?”

“That’s not what I said—”

“Okay, so if he was there when it happened—”

“Wynonna—”

“Just tell me the damn truth, Shorty!”

_“IT DOESN’T FUCKING MATTER, WYNONNA!,” _roared Shorty. “He’s dead, your dad’s dead, your sister’s dead, and if you follow this path, you’ll be dead, too! Is that what you want?”

Wynonna could barely breathe. Everything she’d just heard…she walked slowly towards Shorty. Keeping her head low, she came up next to him. Still focused on the floor, she said, “A lot more than I want to be next to you right now.” Swiftly, she grabbed him by his shirt collar, and slammed her head into his face, dazing him. Before he could recover, she kneed him in the crotch, effectively grounding him for the next five minutes or so. _Plenty of time_. Rifling through Shorty’s pockets, she quickly dug out his card for the speeder. “See you in another life, asshole,” she said, and ran for the barn.

As she threw open the door, she was only slightly surprised to find Dolls just on the other side, looking as though he was about to run away. Behind him, Jeremy was lying on the floor. Digesting this, Wynonna held up the keycard to the speeder. “If you’re planning on leaving, this might get us farther faster.” She stepped past the robot and hopped into the blue-and-white speeder. Turning to Dolls, she said, “Throw the little guy in back and get in. We got us a tracker to find.”


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a short little interlude to introduce some people I couldn't wait to bring in. Warning: implied violence against lizards in the second half

As Wynonna sped off with her droids in the borrowed speeder, two very different ships entered the atmosphere.

The pilot of the _Stetson_ was decidedly _not _in the best of moods. Her and her co-pilot/navigator/bodyguard/whatever else he decided to call himself had been on a nice, easy delivery. They were supposed to pick up some spices from all over the system and bring them back to Purgatory for their boss to luxuriate in. Easy. Simple. A little weird, considering how much could be done with that stuff in the right quantities, but considering it was twenty thousand credits worth of the stuff, she wasn’t gonna argue, especially with a hard-fought-for twenty-five percent take.

That was three hours ago, before they’d jumped in-system and saw a church-sanctioned cruiser in orbit around the planet. She had no time for jamming, dodging, or jumping back out before the bastards had pinged her radio. “Unidentified ship entering the system, state your name and purpose,”

The captain cursed, but said, “This is Captain Nicole Haught flying the _Stetson_. Transmitting I.D. codes now.” She pushed the send button and turned to Nedley, her bear-in-a-man’s-skin of a crew. “You _did_ put the new decoys into the system, right?”

Nedley looked sideways at her. “Oh, you were serious about that?”

“Nedley….”

“Relax, Nicole. They loaded in fine….eventually.”

“_Eventually?_”

Nedley was saved from answering this by a sudden beeping on the console. “_Stetson_, this is the _Svane_. We’re having some trouble verifying your codes. Pull alongside our ship and have all crew present for an inspection.” The voice clicked off, and an ominous silence filled the bridge.

Nicole spoke first. “The codes failed.”

Nedley tried to remain positive. “Well, maybe not. Could just be they’re bored and want an excuse to terrorize us a little.”

“Yeah, and fake codes would really give them a good excuse to do that.” Nicole adjusted the ship and began to move it towards the _Svane _as slowly as she could get away with. They were totally screwed. The freaks would board, they’d find the spices, kill them….

“I’m dumping the spice.”

Nedley nearly choked. “You’re _what_? Nicole, come on, don’t be crazy—”

“It’s all in sealed containers and the hatch is facing away from them. We stay on the right course it should block anyone’s view until we’re far distant from—”

“You really think no one’s gonna notice some boxes that just _happen_ to be on the vector we just flew in on?”

Nicole shrugged. “Sorry, pal, we gotta. Dumping in three, two…” Nicole pulled the control to open their storage areas between each deck. On the monitor, she watched the twnty crates drifting off into the void. Each crate had a tracking chip on them, so picking them up was doable. Bunny might not like it, but at least her stuff was in system and within reach. Between that and her supposed connections with—

“Look out!” screamed Nedley

Nicole whirled and jerked the stick down, narrowly avoiding a fast moving shuttle that was exiting the _Svane_. “Those maniacs! What are they—”

“Nicole…” warned Nedley.

“What? What is it now?” Nedley pointed at their tracker and the monitor behind them. A quarter of the chips had already gone offline, and the shuttle that had nearly killed them was now taking potshots at the other crates, as if its inhabitants were offended at the idea of a bunch of space debris trying to block their righteous path. “No….”

“’Fraid so,” said Nedley. He didn’t need to say anything else; they both knew what this meant. The second they landed, they would skyrocket to the top of Bunny’s most wanted list. The trackers broadcast to her castle, and she would know immediately what was happening – the outline, if not exact details. It also meant that Nicole – and by extension, Nedley – now had a twenty thousand credit price tag. She had some money stowed away in her bunk, and it was probable that Nedley had a little more, but they’d need at least double that to get Bunny to call off her dogs.

The communicator beeped again. “_Stetson_, we apologize. Your codes just cleared. Everything checks out. Enjoy your time in Purgatory.”

Nicole blinked stupidly, not quite believing her ears. “Uh….Roger_, Svane_. Thank you very much. May the…” Nicole struggled to remember the exact phrasing of the sign off. “May the blessings of the church light your path to eternity.”

“Thank you, _Stetson_, and the same to you.” The operator signed off, and Nicole aimed the ship planetside. “They knew,” she said.

“Probably.” Nedley’s hair seemed to overtake his face as he frowned. “Could they have seen it?”

“Even money. They saw it and told their friends to destroy it while delaying us, or they didn’t see it and we just hit the bad luck jackpot. Either way, we’re screwed.”

Nedley pulled up a nav menu. “Well, the port at Purgatory City is open. We can probably dock there, get a room and some rest, and figure out what the next move is.”

“The next move….” Nicole laughed bitterly. “How much did you have squirreled away?”

“….Only six thousand,” Nedley admitted. At Nicole’s raised eyebrow, he said, “Hey, keeping this facial hair this neat in space requires very precise tools, young lady.”

“Okay, old man. Well, I’ve got ten thousand, so that’s…”

“Four thousand short.”

“Yeah…._and_ she’ll probably want compensation, so….figure we need ten thousand creds, now.”

“Yeah. Any idea where we can score that kind of money quick?”

“Nope. You?”

“Nope.”

“Great.”

Fifty miles south of the Homestead, the desert was empty of sentient life. A few lizards of varying size crawled across the rocks as some insects flitted through the air. One of them noticed a reflection of light and crawled toward it.

The light was bouncing off a giant object, many times bigger than the lizard. The lizard stuck his tongue out, trying to taste the scent of anything edible inside it. There was a metallic taste coming from the pod, and one that combined the metal with a raw meat flavor. Undeterred by its lack of success, the lizard crept further into the pod.

A noise rose up outside, and the lizard froze in alarm. Another object, even bigger than the one the lizard was in, had appeared outside. A part of its belly opened and a group of smaller shapes came out of it. There was no scent to them that the lizard could identify. The closest it could come was of a dead bird it had found last week mixed with the rock it had been resting on earlier that day. One of the shapes looked around and said, “Well….never thought we’d end up back here, eh, Malcolm?”

“Shut up, Jack,” said another shape. “Let’s just find those droids and get the hell off this rock.”

“Oh, so angry,” said the first shape. “I think if it weren’t for my tracking, you could spend the next six years here and not find those robots.”

“Well if it’s all the same to you, I’d rather not test that.” The second shape faced more behind it. “Secure this site, and then get some men over to the city and set up a guardpost in case they get that far.”

“You probably won’t need that, Malcolm. Observe.” The first shape approached the lizard, and it reared back.

Malcolm sighed. “A lizard and an empty pod. Wonderful.”

“You are as blind as you are stupid, my old friend. Look.” Jack gestured. “An empty pod with no robots, and, if you look closely, two sets of tracks heading into the desert. If we follow them, then we’ll either find the robots or find someone who has seen them. Wouldn’t you agree?” The Jack shape moved off, and Malcolm stared after it.

“I’d agree that you’re a self-righteous piece of shit,” Malcolm muttered. Noticing the lizard, Malcolm reached in and picked it up. It screeched and hissed in the grip of the giant. “At least I got something out of this,” said the Malcolm shape. It brought the lizard to its mouth and


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, this one's a bit of a doozy, gang. It's a little longer than they've been so far, but I think it's worth it. There is some stuff in the chapter that gets a bit grisly, but upon reflection I don't think it's enough to affect the story's overall rating. Regardless, important things are happening, and next chapter should be all flashback. You'll know whose by the end of this one (or if you've been paying attention to story progression. I know you guys aren't stupid).

“Do you have any idea where we’re going?” shouted Jeremy from the back.

Wynonna steered the speeder around a boulder and then got them back on track. “People say Doc lives way out in the badlands, about as far as you can get from society while still being in shouting distance of it. That means he’s gotta be close to the mountains, or maybe the canyon. Never had much reason to go out there before now, but if he actually does know something about what happened…” Wynonna engaged the secondary drive and the speeder accelerated again.

They had been away from the homestead for nearly an hour. It was pitch black and apart from the running lamps at the front of the speeder, they had almost no illumination to see by. Wynonna hadn’t said much since they left and had mainly been relying on old tales of Doc’s legend and Doll’s determination to find him as a map. Every now and then his head would turn slightly as though following a signal she couldn’t quite hear, and Wynonna would adjust their course accordingly. She didn’t quite know what they were looking for – a light in a cave, a well-established settlement – but she was not turning around until they found something.

“Obstruction ahead,” Dolls said.

Wynonna looked up and slammed on the brakes. The speeder decelerated almost immediately and stopped just short of the giant rockpile someone had left in their path. Wynonna cut the power to the engine but left the lights on and exited the vehicle. Beside her, Dolls did the same. The pair approached the pile. “Landslide, probably,” she said. “We must have entered the canyon sooner than I thought. Place is full of loose rocks and other—”

“No,” said Dolls. He turned around and pointed back the way they had come. “A sensor was activated a full kilometer back that way.”

Wynonna was mildly put out. “So why didn’t you warn me?”

“I did,” replied Dolls. He started to scan their environment.

“Alright, well….you watch our backs. Jeremy!” she called. “Get out of there. We need to clear as much of this as we can as quick as we can.”

“Uh….are we expecting trouble?” asked Jeremy. Wynonna looked at Dolls for an answer, and he nodded.

“Just…get it done quickly, okay, Metalman?”

Jeremy clambered out of the cab and he and Wynonna immediately started trying to move as many rocks as they could while Dolls stood guard. As they worked, Wynonna said, “So, level with me, Jerabot.”

“Level with you?”

“Yeah,” Wynonna said. “That Dolls unit…..he’s not exactly standard issue, right?”

“Well…..no, not exactly.”

“And you’ve obviously got more beneath you than just meat and bones, so……what’s the deal?”

Jeremy sighed. “Okay, but this is really top secret stuff, okay?”

“Oh, I’m all ears,” grunted Wynonna as she moved another rock…something she couldn’t help but notice that Jeremy was doing much more easily than was fair.

“A few years ago, I was in an accident. Ship I was on crashed, everyone else died….heck, I think I technically did too, a few times.”

“Are you serious?” Wynonna stopped working for a minute. “How are you standing here?”

“Well…..okay, you remember the princess?”

“Holo-girl? Yeah, what about her?”

“Okay, her planet is really well-off and full of smart people. They figured out a way to fix me halfway, meaning I could stay human but would have wheels or treads or whatever where my legs used to be, or….”

Wynona waited for a second. “Well?”

Jeremy shifted. “Sorry, I was….trying to be dramatic. But yeah, treads, or they could put me under for a week, break me down even further, and then replace my organs and bones with artificial versions. I was basically a brain in a jar while that happened, and sometimes I still don’t quite feel fully human, but I still remember stuff and goof up occasionally, so at least I know I’m me that way.”

Wynonna was speechless. “Jeremy….wow, that’s—”

“Hostiles incoming,” interrupted Dolls. “Switching to attack mode.”

Wynonna’s shock quickly turned to a small fury. “_Attack mode_?”

“Oh, right. Yeah, those smart people?’ said Jeremy. “They also thought it would be neat to take a basic analysis droid and turn it into a strategist and combat specialist.”

“Whose idea was that?”

“Princess Waverly’s.”

“_WHAT_?”

The conversation was cut off by an explosion to their left. Wynonna couldn’t see clear shapes, but from the amount of lasers it looked like they were facing at least ten beings. Wynonna looked over at Dolls and saw that his face was glowing. Two bright beams of energy left his eyes and found a target on the ridge just south of them. _One down_, thought Wynonna. She glanced at Jeremy, who shrugged and said, “She wanted a bodyguard.”

“Yeah, with the power of a star cruiser.” Dolls took out two more snipers, and Wynonna took the chance to drag Jeremy next to the speeder. “Dolls!” she shouted. “How many you got?”

“Seven targets remaining,” he responded, his voice as cool as ever. A blast hit his side and Dolls was knocked back but remained standing. He fired back in the direction it had come and said, “Six.”

“Okay, six left. Think you can get them all? I’m kinda short a weapon of my own.”

Dolls looked out again. “Analyzing target posi—”

_FWOOM!!! _Another explosion rocked the ground in front of them, sending both them and the speeder flying. Wynonna hit the ground hard. The laser fire stopped, and she heard the sound of grappling hooks being fired. Looking around, she saw their attackers sliding down cables and closing in on them. Dolls and Jeremy were both pinned under the overturned speeder, fifteen feet in front of her. “Wynonna!” Jeremy called. “Are you alright?”

Wynonna tried to call back, but whatever she said turned into a giant coughing fit. The six survivors of the attacking force neared, and Wynonna could just make out the outline of a blue devil – maybe one from the same clan whom had given her the droids…..god, was that just this morning? “Hey…” she said weakly. “Have we met?”

The devil grinned at her as if to say _Definitely_, when another laser shot went off. Wynonna looked to see where it came from….and then she saw that the approaching devil had suddenly lost his face and most of his head. His friends seemed equally confused at this, and then just as quickly their heads too had turned into so much vapor. She heard the sound of someone climbing down the embankment and looked to her right to see a lone figure slowly picking its way down the side of the canyon. The figure used no rope or equipment and moved slowly, but within moments it had finished the climb. Wynonna tried to call for help, but fell to coughing again.

“Be there directly, miss,” said the figure. As the shape approached, the sound of straining metal to her left came. Wynonna heard the speeder flip a second time and saw Dolls finally push the vehicle off him and Jeremy. Dolls faced the figure, but it simply said, “Calm down there, partner. My gun’s away, and my only goal now is to help this poor…” The figure trailed off as it arrived next to Wynonna, who felt her consciousness fading. “I’ll be damned…..Wynonna Earp.”

Wynonna fought off fainting and saw a head over her. There was an old hat on it with a wide brim to keep sun and dust out of its wearer’s eyes. A paper cigarette was stuck behind one of the ears, and there was a ridiculous-looking mustache grown beneath the nose. Although Wynonna had never met this man in person, she knew without a doubt just who their savior was.

“Doc…” she said, and then finally fell into a deep sleep.

_“Willa?”_

_Wynonna pulls the charred and unmoving body of Red off of her sister. It’s so full of holes and covered in burns that it looks more like a piece of meat that everyone took a big bite out of before throwing in the trash. Whatever else happens, Red’s days of terrorizing and threatening families and…..existing….are done._

_ Wynonna tries to push the body aside, but she’s only six years old and even though she’s tough and is a hell of a fighter, her strength is still quite low. Changing tactics, she starts trying to pull Red off of her beloved sister. It’s a slow process, but she is soon able to get the big man off of Willa._

_She wishes she hadn’t. Willa’s once beautiful young face is now covered in blood and ash. Wynonna pulls off her shirt and tries to wipe the blood away. Weirdly, it comes away with a stringy substance attached, and it is a moment before Wynonna realizes she has just pulled off a part of Willa’s face. She drops the shirt and manages to get far enough away that when she vomits, it is not on either of the bodies._

_She stays like that for a minute, vomiting and heaving and crying. She is stopped only when she hears another scream, this one older and masculine. _Daddy_, she thinks. She picks up the gun and looks at the unmoving body that used to be her older sister. Fighting back tears, she runs for her father, hoping to save at least one person tonight. She barely clears the front gate when a spaceship roars overhead, making for the atmosphere as fast as it can. She keeps running and sees a fire not to far away. _No…_, she thinks, praying that she’s not too late again._

_“Daddy! It’s me!” she screams. She gets to the fire and finds her father, Ward. He is strung up on a post that has been planted next to the fire. His face has been smashed repeatedly, his arms and legs have been sliced deep, his scalp has been removed, and his chest has been torn open with his guts….most of them, at least….left hanging in the night breeze. Despite this, the man is somehow still alive._

_“Wynonna,” he groans, and the girl knows that his pain must be intense. How he has not already died is beyond her. “I’m here, Daddy,” she says._

_Ward swallows, and a bit of blood comes out of a tiny hole in his neck. His voice remains low as he asks, “Where….” He coughs, and more blood comes out but he tries again. “Where are the others?”_

_“I….” Wynonna tries to speak, to tell him that his attackers have fled and his oldest daughter is dead and that she killed both her and her attacker, but instead all she can say is, “I don’t know, Daddy.”_

_There’s another cough, and even Wynonna knows that her daddy is dying. “Wynonna, please…” he says. “You have to kill me.”_

_Wynonna gasps. Kill him? “Daddy…no…”_

_“It hurts everywhere, Wynonna….” Ward rasps. “Please…end it….”_

_Wynonna sobs, but raises Peacemaker one final time. She points it at her father, the man who brought her into the universe, and says, “Make your peace, Daddy.” He nods at her and closes his eyes._

_She fires once._

_Everything is quiet, except for her sobs. She drops Peacemaker in the dirt and crawls close to her father. She curls up in the dirt and lays there, her tears flowing endlessly. _

_She is still there several hours later when the local law enforcement arrive._

It was daytime.

Wynonna opened her eyes and groaned. The events of last night had done a real number on her body, but nothing seemed broken. She looked around her bedroom and—

_Where the hell am I?_

The bedroom was sparse, utilitarian. It looked as though the only purpose its owner used it for was sleeping. There was a small closet with a number of ugly shirt and pant combinations in there, and two or three brimmed hats on a shelf above them. The door was open, and through it she could smell meat frying on a stove. Jeremy was chattering to someone in the other room. Of Dolls there was no sign, so presumably he was with Jeremy. Her clothes were still on, and—

“If you’re awake, you may as well come have breakfast. I doubt these two mechanically equipped people will be inclined to partake in it, if they are even able.”

Wynonna swore and headed into the main area of the cabin. There she found Dolls standing in a corner and Jeremy sitting on a couch, explaining that while he didn’t _have _to eat, he was certainly able to, and—

“Oh, hi Wynonna! There she is, Doc.”

“Yes, I am aware, Jeremy. The sound of your voice, loud as it is, is not yet loud enough to drown out the sound of shoes taking steps.” The speaker was wearing blue jeans of the same style as Wynonna’s own and a dark blue shirt with buttons done up to the collar tucked into them. A gray hat rested nearby, and he picked it up and placed it on his head as he removed a pan from the fireplace and emptied three pieces of meat onto three plates. He contemplated a fourth piece of meat in the pan, and said to her, “You should probably have this one as well. Get as much energy as you can.” He put the final piece of meat on the plate nearest her and took a seat at the table. “Tuck in,” he said.

“Doc…” she said.

“That is what I am called, Miss Earp,” he said casually, as though remarking on the weather.

“Why are you calling me that?”

“What, Miss?” he said, tucking into his own meat. “Well, as far as I can tell, you are female and single, so—”

“No….the other. Earp.”

“Why, that’s your name, isn’t it? Wynonna Earp?” He gestured at the empty chair with two pieces of meat in front of it and said, “You sure you don’t want some? The cyborg fellow seems to be enjoying his.”

Indeed, Jeremy had taken a seat at the table and was nearly finished his own serving. He burped indelicately and covered his mouth too later. “Sorry….juicy food tends to make me gassy.” Doc closed his eyes and waved his hand unconcernedly. “It’s okay, Wynonna. We can trust him.”

“_Trust_ him? Do we even know this guy?” Wynonna pointed at the mustached mystery man.

“Well, you have called me by my name at least twice since last night,” he said. “A night in which I managed to save you from no fewer than five bandits who wished to do harm unto your body.”

“Yeah, but what have you done for me lately?”

“Made you breakfast, which is getting colder by the second. You sure you don’t want some?”

“I’m fine. And my _name_, for the record, is Wynonna Simons, not Earp.”

“That might be the name you grew up under after that bartender took you in, but it’s not the name you were born with, we both know that. Hell, you still live in the same building; why not just admit your name and settle?’

“Because that name died when my father did, asshole!” she shouted. “And also, my name is not the one in question here. Yours is!”

Doc looked slightly ruffled at that. “Meaning what, exactly?”

“_Meaning_, exactly, that the DLS unit has a message in him for one John Henry Holliday, and – yes!” crowed Wynonna when she saw Doc’s mustache twitch. “You _are_ him, aren’t you?”

Doc sighed. He lowered the hat, and Wynonna was sorely tempted to just knock it off. “How’d you find out?”

“Shorty,” she said quickly. “When I mentioned the droid had a message in it for John Henry Holliday and that maybe the local tracker could find him, he flipped out like I’ve never seen. That plus the way the droid’s just sitting there waiting means you equals him.”

Doc’s lip quirked. “Shorty…” he said. “Lord, I miss that man’s drinks.” Doc smiled and got up, and Wynonna moved to block his escape if needed. Doc just laughed. “Calm down, girl, I’m just stretching my legs. Not as young as I once was, after all.”

“Uh-huh,” said Wynonna slowly. “Well, you’re also apparently a liar and maybe one of the men responsible for killing my dad, so—”

Wynonna hadn’t even seen the blaster, but before she could think Doc had drawn and was pointing one right at her face. “Young lady, I will say this once. I have been many things in my long life, and I have killed many people, but one thing I am _not_ is one of the monsters responsible for your father’s demise. Were it possible, I would shoot myself for that having ever happened.” Doc put the gun back in its holster, which Wynonna could now clearly see on his right hip, in addition to a second filled holster on his left hip. He sat back down and said, “What happened to Ward Earp….hell, what’s happened to every one of your ancestors…” Doc shook his head and drew a flask out of his pocket. He took a swig from it and grimaced again.

Slowly, Wynonna sat down. “How long?” she said.

Doc looked at her. “How long what?”

“How long is your life?”

Doc just sat there for so long that Wynonna thought he might have fallen asleep. After she’d cut up her food and started eating, he muttered, “About one hundred years.”

Wynonna nearly choked. “Bullshit. You look barely forty, if that.”

“Nope,” he said. “Old Lord Clootie, he had to begin his experiments somewhere. Guess who the poor first bastard was?”

“You?” asked Wynonna. “How? And why does Shorty say you got my father killed?”

Doc sighed. “Eat your breakfast. This might take a while….”


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A flashback to a time long past reveals the history of Doc and the origins of a long-lost weapon....

_Many years ago…._

“So, Doctor, have you decided to accept my offer?”

John Henry Holliday coughed violently in response to Father Clootie’s question. Most days he was able to hide his sickness quite well, or at least keep from interfering too much in his life….such that it was. Lately, though, his coughing had become more and more pronounced, and there were days that no matter what, he just could not muster up the strength to get out of bed.

That would not do. “Well, as I understand it, Mr. Clootie—”

“_Father_ Clootie, please. We are building a holy family here, and titles – meaningless as they may be to an out-of-work dentist – still have some importance in this house.”

“Of course, sir, I meant no offense.” _Apart from all of it._ “I was only trying to go over the terms of this little agreement before I render my final decision.”

“Hmm,” said Clootie. “This wouldn’t be some sort of delaying trick, would it, Mr. Holliday? A way of spinning your wheels – a talent of which you are well-experienced – until your good friend Wyatt can arrive and….” He chuckled. “….take me in?”

“Wyatt Earp does not even know I’m here, sir. As far as he’s concerned, I’m dying in a room near a spaceport on El Camino.”

“Very well. The terms of this ‘agreement’, as you so aptly put it, are this: In exchange for me healing you of your debilitating sickness, you will forego all previous allegiances and serve only me, and through me, the Church of Serpentes. This agreement will last for the next millennium or until your death, whichever comes first.”

“A thousand years….” whistled Holliday. “Fun as this company is, I hope you won’t be offended when I die before that time is up, sir.”

“Those are the terms, Holliday. Do you accept them or not?”

Holliday lit a cigarette and was silent for a moment, thinking. He already knew that he was going to say yes. The problem was how fast he’d be able to escape after being cured. The station he had come to was in one of the busier sectors of space, and he did not relish the thought of spacewalking his way to the next system. Ideally there would be some kind of delivery shuttle he could borrow, and after that….

“Mr. Holliday?”

Holliday stubbed out his cigarette on the back of his hand and pocketed the remains to finish later. “Alright, Father. Count me in.”

“Excellent.” Clootie rose from his seat in such a way that he seemed almost to rise straight up rather than stand. “Follow me.”

A concealed door opened in the back of the room, and Holliday followed Clootie into a hall made almost entirely of reflective surfaces. “The mirrors are a lesser part of our security system. Cameras can be jammed, escape routes can be logged in memory, but when all the eye can see is hundreds of copies of itself, it gets slightly disorienting.”

“You don’t say,” said Holliday, whose head was already beginning to hurt. If it weren’t for the occasional room number painted on a wall and Clootie leading him, he would have been lost already. “How much farther did you say it was?”

“Through here.” Clootie opened one of a pair of double doors and gestured Holliday inside. There, a small team of technicians and medical staff were busily moving around a bed. Two more entered the room carrying a small chip of some sort. Clootie noticed him staring at the pair and said, “I see you’ve discovered the secret.”

“What secret would that be, sir?” asked Holliday.

“The secret to healing you, granting immortality, and perhaps one day, much much more.” Clootie smiled thinly, and Holliday noticed for the first time how sharp his teeth were. “You see, the human body is merely a machine. Like any machine, it will rust and decay with age. Its inner workings will slow, its casing will begin to disintegrate….a very disgusting process, if I may say so.” He paused and looked at Holliday, and Holliday realized he was asking for confirmation. He nodded, and Clootie continued.

“The amazing part is, the galaxy is full of all this wonderful technology, and yet no one has truly been able to do more with it to arrest this process in the many millenia of humanity’s existence…at least, not until my dear wife Constance.” One of the technicians escorting the chip paused and came over. She took off her mask and Holliday beheld a head of golden hair on a very youthful body…..holding eyes that somehow seemed much older than the body they inhabited.

“A pleasure to meet you, John Henry. Please, call me Constance.”

“Ma’am,” said Holliday, tipping his hat to her.

“You’ll need to strip now. For the procedure.”

“Ah….of course.” Holliday saw a privacy curtain close by and made for it. Clootie chose the time to resume speaking. “Constance here has discovered a way to increase drive and functionality in all of the body’s systems. You see, the human body is driven mainly by electrical impulses. Even the heart, the very thing that controls blood flow, is governed by these impulses, and do you know where they originate from, Mr. Holliday?”

“If I had to guess,” said Holliday, struggling out of his pants, “I would say the brain.”

“Very good. Now this chip….this beautiful little piece of technology….this chip will be inserted along your medulla oblongata. From there it will send out signals that will keep your heart beating for a long time, increasing blood flow, white cell production…..truly, the sky is the limit with what we can accomplish here today.”

Holliday emerged from the curtain. “Uh, sir….ma’am….forgive me, but a lot of those words went right over my head. You mind saying that again in an easier-to-understand way?”

Constance obliged him. “He means we’re going to cut open your head, stick this next to your brain, and then see how many thousands of years you live.”

Holliday glanced between the two to see if they were joking. He knew technology could do a great many things, but….”That’s impossible.”

“Well, we won’t know until we try,” said Clootie calmly.

Holliday nodded, took a step forward…and ran for the exit. He was sure he could make it before anyone else, but suddenly Clootie was in front of him and holding him tightly. “This is going to happen, Mr. Holliday. Embrace it.” Holliday struggled in the grip of the man, when suddenly he felt a prick on the back of his neck. “Wha…” he tried to say, but everything went dark.

He awoke six hours later.

He looked around the room. There were no medical staff in sight, and he couldn’t hear anyone in any nearby rooms. There was a small thumping coming from near the door, but Holliday couldn’t identify what it might be. His clothes lay nearby, and he struggled over to them, determined to make his escape quickly.

The thumping sounded again, and Holliday nearly covered his ears. He looked for the source of it, and saw….a spider. The spider moved quickly for a shady spot, and the drumming increased. “Son of a bitch,” he said, mildly impressed. That was when he noticed something else: his lungs, those sacks which for as long as he could remember had always felt like they’d been filled with water, were clear for the first time in years.

“Can’t say they didn’t deliver, then,” muttered Holliday. He dressed quickly and pried open the door. The hallway was clear, and Holliday exited into the mirror maze. Trying desperately to remember the route he had taken, Holliday proceeded down the hall. He passed one intersection, then another. A left, then a right, then another left. The dozens of versions of himself marching alongside him were unnerving, to say the least. Ahead of him, two men exited into the corridor. Holliday quickly palmed the nearest entrance and went through.

Looking around him, Holliday beheld some sort of weapons lab. It was empty, but Holliday had no doubt that blessing wouldn’t last. His own guns had been removed from his room and he was desperate for replacements, in case the worst happened. He picked up a pair of laser pistols and strapped them to his belt quickly. Looking around for more, Holliday saw a blaster lying on the table. There were a bunch of blueprints next to it that seemed to indicate it was greatly modified, but Holliday had no time to determine how. Seeing an empty go-bag on a nearby shelf, Holliday stuffed both gun and plans inside and got moving again.

He was ten steps out of the room when the alarm started going off. “Shit,” he said. He picked a direction at random and ran in a straight line. Behind him, he heard a voice call out, “Mr. Holliday!” Not deigning to answer, Holliday kept moving. He opened another door and found himself in an office. On the other side of the glass he could hear sounds of a loading bay. Drawing his guns, he fired into the glass, shattering it. Shouts echoed up from below as he jumped and fell twenty feet to the floor below. He landed badly and if it weren’t for his recently enhanced healing he would no doubt have broken both his legs. As it was, he was only momentarily dazed. Looking around, he saw a shuttle getting ready to depart. He ran for it and ducked inside. The pilot heard his arrival and immediately said, “Hey! You can’t just barge in here like—”

Holliday brought his pistol up into the man’s face. “We are leaving,” he said. “Right now.”

The pilot, a young fellow with curly black hair, swallowed and said, “I—I don’t have clearance from control yet. They—”

“I am giving you the clearance, boy!” roared Holliday. “Get this tin can moving!”

The pilot paled and ran for the cockpit. Within seconds, the shuttle was moving. Holliday checked their behind and saw Clootie standing in the window he had broken, and despite the distance between them, Holliday suddenly felt sure that Clootie could see him as well. Clootie began clapping his hands together, as though applauding Holliday’s successful escape, and (Holliday was sure) nodded at him as if to say _Go, then_. Then the shuttle was moving, and Holliday could see nothing more of the man.

Holliday turned and made for the cockpit. The pilot was there and utterly terrified. “I am sorry for my bluntness, friend, but desperate times call for desperate action. My name is John Holliday, although most of my friends call me Doc. You are?”

The pilot glanced at him nervously. “I…..Ambrose. My….my name’s Ambrose, though most people call me Fish.”

“A pleasure, Fish. What do you say we put this unpleasantness behind us and make for nicer accommodations?”

“Yeah….no problem. Did you have somewhere in mind?”

Holliday did.

“Jesus, Doc,” said Wyatt. “Just….Jesus.”

“I do apologize for lying, old friend, but if I’d told the truth, you would have said no.”

The two friends were in the hotel bar on El Camino. As luck would have it, Fish’s shuttle had arrived in dock just as Wyatt was tearing through operations looking for word on Holliday’s location. When Wyatt had seen him standing behind him looking healthier than he had in ages, Doc had been sure he would faint. Now, having retired to the bar and told Wyatt everything that happened, his old friend looked like he _wanted_ to faint.

“I might not have said no, but I definitely would have appreciated the honesty over the deception,” replied Wyatt. “So…. what are you, immortal now?”

“Before Clootie and his witch of a wife worked their magic on me, she mentioned being interested to see how many thousands of years I would live. I suspect she was being facetious, but I will say that I’m operating quicker and more delicately than I ever have before.”

“I see.” Wyatt took a drink from his mug and was silent. “Did you get anything else from that bastard?”

“A couple borrowed pistols to replace the ones he took from me…and also this.” Doc emptied the contents of the go-bag onto the table. Wyatt whistled at the elegance of the weapon – a long barrel, silver instead of the usual black, and as shiny as if it had just come off the assembly line.

“It’s beautiful…” said Wyatt.

“There’s more to it than looks, old friend.” Holliday reached for the plans and began unfolding them. “I’m no engineer, but it looks like there’s a bunch of special features to this puppy. Take a look.”

Wyatt lay the gun on the table and examined the blueprints. “Holy…..DNA encoding, ultraviolet capacitors, aural activation….Jesus…” Wyatt put the plans down.” Doc, you may have stolen the best gun in the universe. You sure this was the only one?”

“Sure as my mustache and twice as pretty,” replied Doc. “So what do you think?”

“I think with a gun like this, I’d be able to take care of any nasties Clootie sends my way.” Wyatt picked up the gun and the plans and put them in his own satchel.

Holliday let out a breath he didn’t realize he was holding and stood up. “So good, then! Let’s mount up and get after that son-of-a-bitch!”

A shadow seemed to pass over Wyatt’s face. “No, Doc.”

“No?” He sat back down.

“No.” Wyatt sighed. “I am glad you’re alive and healthy, my friend, but this….this is where you and me part ways.”

“Wyatt, what the hell are you talking about?”

“What you’ve become….what’s been done to you – what you _had_ done to you – it’s unnatural. I can’t stand for that.”

“Unnatural? Wyatt, look around. We’re in space eating processed food firing lasers at people. What about any of that is natural.”

“The fact that we can _die_, Doc….or at least that I can.” Wyatt looked him right in the eye. “Tell me something – what was your reason for going to Clootie in the first place? The very devil we’ve spent months chasing?”

“Why…” Holliday stammered, trying to come up with a good excuse. “To heal myself, so I could keep fighting with you.”

“Oh, don’t try to make this into some selfless act, Doc. I would’ve been happy to fight with you to your dying breath….and that’s a breath that won’t come now, isn’t it?” Wyatt waited for him to refute this, but he couldn’t. Wyatt nodded once. “You go do whatever you want…..maybe try and restore some honor to your soul. God knows you’ve got the time now. As for me…” Wyatt stood up. “I’m gonna leave here, mourn the death of my friend John Holliday, and pray that I never see your face again.”

Wyatt stormed off. Holliday wanted to go after him, to convince him that he was wrong. Instead, he just sat there drinking.


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things are found, revelations are made, and a name is claimed

“After Wyatt left me, I tried to get some other work as a lawman, but apparently people liked to gossip. Word was out about how John Holliday had broken Wyatt Earp’s trust and was no longer on good terms with the man. Eventually I made my way out here. Dropped my full name and just went by Doc, and that helped with the trust – people always want a doctor, after all. Anyway, I set up shop as a tracker/gun-for-hire, and that was it.”

Wynonna doubted very much that _that_ was truly it, but she had more important issues. “Why would Shorty say you got my father killed?”

Doc lit a cigarette and pondered the question. “Well, my reputation may have something to do with it – he knew I existed, and he was always sharper than a ten-inch nail in a bag of cloth. Apart from that—”

“Okay, I’m gonna stop you right there,” Wynonna said. “I have serious trust issues with people, probably has something to do with being accused of killing my father which, guess what? Happened! So if you know something about that night, you telling me would go a _long_ way towards us building a good partnership. Understand.”

Doc stared at her, finishing his cigarette. He nodded.

“Good. Now, try again.”

“I was there.”

Wynonna blinked. _Okay, maybe it will be that easy. _“Uh…come again?”

“Let me rephrase. I was out hunting for some dinner when I saw a ship I recognized as belonging to revenants take off from the direction of your homestead, Curiosity overwhelmed my common sense, and I got out my bike and rode over to figure it out. When I got there, I saw a little girl crying in front of her daddy and fires raging everywhere.” Doc paused briefly, and he looked like someone wrestling with themself over some bad news. For the moment, at least, he decided against it and said. “I hit my motor and ran into town as fast as my cart would carry me. Caught Shorty as he was leaving and gave him the gist of what happened.”

Wynonna remembered what Shorty had said about Doc being there and getting her father killed. “That still doesn’t add up to you having anything to do with him dying.”

Doc shrugged. “Perhaps he assumed I owed the Earps for any past transgressions…..and considering how things have turned out, perhaps he was right.”

Wynonna laughed bitterly. “You’re not the one who killed my father, Doc. That bitch is sitting right here.”

Doc shook his head sadly and said, “True….and if I had stuck with Wyatt instead of striking a deal, maybe Clootie wouldn’t have perfected his magic chips and we’d only be facing human monsters instead of revenants.”

“True,” said Wynonna. “Actually, there is one other thing before we’re through.”

“Only one?” said Doc, a wry smile making his mustache curl up.

“Oh, don’t get me wrong, there’s a lot of blanks to fill in, but the biggest for me…..where’s Peacemaker?”

“Who?’

“_The gun_, chip-for-brains.” Wynonna thumped his skull. “Wyatt’s gun that he left to his family. I never saw it after that night. Always assumed some scavenger ran off with it, but now…”

Doc chuckled. “You got great instincts, girl, I will say that.” Doc moved into a back room, and Wynonna followed. “By the time I got back to the homestead, the place was already crawling with legit lawmen. I kept to the shadows, figuring that jail was an easy place to get spotted by Clootie. They hadn’t reached you yet and were focused just on the house and the bodies there. The way those fools were milling around, I knew it’d be a while yet before they found you and Ward, so I got close to you, called out ‘Hey! Survivor!’, and scooped up you and the gun both. One young officer with the earliest stages of an attempt at facial hair came running over. I handed you off and told him to get you to a doctor while I checked for more survivors.” He laughed. “I have been told I’m a charismatic individual.”  


As Doc talked, they had moved from the main floor into a basement. Now they were standing atop a section of floor which looked exactly no different to Wynonna from anywhere else. “So you have it, then?”

“Right here,” he said. He brushed some dirt aside and revealed a safe buried in the basement floor. The lock on it looked as though it hadn’t been touched in years. Doc put his thumb on the lock, entered his code, and….

There it was.

“Figured it wouldn’t do for any of Clootie’s men to get there hands on it,” explained Doc as he withdrew the silver blaster with something bordering on reverence. Wynonna could barely breathe. She took the weapon in hand, and immediately something clicked in her – some drive, some urge to kick open the door and hunt down and kill every single revenant that existed and end their curse once and for all. She wanted to hug it and try to recapture her father’s smell from it, but Doc was standing there, watching her. “Thank you,” she said.

Doc nodded. “Now, how about we go see about that DLS unit, eh?”

Wynonna nodded dumbly and followed Doc back into the main area. Jeremy was examining Dolls and making satisfied noises. He turned as they came in and said, “Hey, guys. I’ve been checking Dolls over after last night and he seems pretty intact. Good news, right?’

“Yeah,” said Wynonna. “Hey, speaking of intact, how’s our speeder?”

“It got us here from the canyon, so I reckon it’s just fine,” Doc drawled.

“Groovy,” said Wynonna. “Now we just need to get this message playing and we’ll be out of your nose hairs.”

Doc looked mildly put out, but let it pass. “This message…did you see any of it?”

“Just the end. Some important looking person wanting you to help her. Think she’s a princess or something.”  


Doc grabbed Wynonna and spun her around quickly. “Did you say princess?”

“Yeah! Ow!”

“What did she—”

“John Henry.”

The feminine voice startled both of them and they saw that Jeremy had gotten the projector in Dolls working again. The princess – Waverly – stood before them once more and was addressing Doc. “Years ago you were a fighter on the side of law and order. I don’t know what made you choose a life of seclusion, but now the galaxy needs your help again.” Doc scoffed, but said nothing. “I was hoping to ask you this in person, but we’ve come under attack by revenant forces, and Robert Del Rey is leading the charge.”

“Robert Del Rey…” growled Doc.

“Shush!” said Wynonna. “Let him finish. Dolls, back it up five seconds.” Dolls complied “—come under attack by revenant forces, and Robert Del Rey is leading the charge. We’ve discovered that the church has plans for something….something that could mean the end of every free-thinking person out there. This DLS unit has those plans inside him. If you are half the man my mother thinks you are, you’ll be able to deliver these plans to the right people and pay your debt. Be who you once were, Mr. Holliday. Be a hero.”

The image disappeared. Doc just stared at the floor. Wynonna waited for him to speak. Hesitantly, he said, “What do you remember about your mother?”

“My mother?” What was Doc getting at? “She left when I was really young, hooked up with some guy.”

“Mr. Dolls,” said Doc. “Would you pull up the recording again? No need to play it, just an image of the young lady will do.” Dolls complied, and the princess appeared again. “Thank you. Now, is there anyway you can make that image larger.”

Machinery whirred in Dolls’ head. The image of the princess rotated slightly. It drifted closer to Dolls, and then suddenly turned full-size. The girl was now a head smaller than Wynonna. That sadness hidden by determination was still there, and Wynonna stepped closer to her. “Am I supposed to be seeing something, or…”

“How old would you say she is? Twenty? A little older?”

“Yeah, maybe.”

“Look like anyone you know? If it helps, add about thirty years to the face.”

Wynonna looked again at the princess, then at Doc, then at Jeremy. “No….”

“In my vast amounts of spare time, I may have kept tabs on you Earps. I know that your mother ran off when you were about five years old. I also know that King Julian of Alderaan remarried not long after that. I make no assumptions about their affairs, but I will say that I once caught a picture of his new wife. Looked an awful lot like Michelle.”

Wynonna turned to Doc slowly. “Do you mean…”

“Yup.”

“…I’m a princess?”

“Yu – _No!_” Doc said sharply. “Jesus, Wynonna, use your brains.”

“Okay! Sorry!” Wynonna got up from the table. “So, my mom is this girl’s mother?”

“_There_ you go. And….”

“So…that’s my sister?”

“Praise mercy, I think she got it.”

Wynonna shook her head. “No….no way. Mama wouldn’t just start a whole new family and abandon me and Willa.”

“Maybe it was more to get away from your father. Regardless, the fact remains…”

“…..I have a sister.” Wynonna stared at the holo, trying to imagine what she was like. She seemed intelligent, well-spoken….._great_ hair, so they had that in common. She looked back at Doc, and her eyes were hard. “….and she’s in trouble.”

Doc nodded. “We’re gonna need a ride.”

“On it!” shouted Jeremy. He went outside. Doc turned to Wynonna and said, “You sure you’re ready for this? It’s gonna be bit tougher than beating up scavengers.”

“These assholes are the ones who came for my family twenty years ago,” declared Wynonna. She hefted Peacemaker and said, “Now they’re the ones—”

“_Wynonna! Emergency!_”

“Oh, dammit, Jeremy…” Wynonna went outside, with Doc and Dolls close behind. “What is it now? I was making a really good speech, and—”

“Just listen, okay?” The normally affable cyborg was in a full-on panic. He had the comm active and was saying into it, “Shorty, repeat that!”

“I said we’re under attack! There’s these two revenants outside, and—” Something cut Shorty off. There was a struggle, and then a different voice – much smoother – said “Whom do I have the pleasure of addressing?”

Without thinking, Wynonna leaned in and said, “This is Wynonna Earp, you son-of-a-bitch, and if you harm one hair on that man’s head—”

“Earp?” the voice said with a laugh. “No, no, no. Earps are extinct, young lady. Regardless, I’ll be blunt – we want the droids. We tracked them here, and we found instead an abandoned old man with a missing speeder.”

“You couldn’t have tracked a speeder? I thought you guys had massive battleships that could count us from space.”

“Well….yes, but I prefer the…” He chuckled briefly. “The ‘hands-on’ approach, as it were.” Shorty screamed again, this time in pure agony. “As a student of the body, I would estimate your friend here has….perhaps half an hour of life left in him? It would be more, but my colleague Malcolm can be rather overzealous sometimes.”

A different voice spoke up. “Dammit, Jack, don’t tell them my—” The new voice was cut off, and moments later, the original voice said, “Well, that was a shame. Still, the man’s looks are much improved without his head attached.” He laughed again. “You have thirty minutes.”

The transmission ended. Wynonna screamed, and leaped into the driver’s seat, shoving Jeremy to the side. “Wynonna!” said Doc. “What are you doing?”

“What do you think, Doc?” she said. “Protecting humans and killing monsters.” She gunned the speeder and took off in a roar of dust, leaving Doc shouting after her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well that was a fun one to write! Next chapter should have a little action and a little drama mixed, and maybe even the return of a face from the past?
> 
> I legit don't know about that last one, I'm writing this as it comes to me. Still, stay tuned!


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A confrontation at the homestead turns tragic. Meanwhile, the leaders of the church grow impatient with Del Rey.

Wynonna floored the speeder as fast as it would go. The voice on the other end of the channel had been disturbingly calm throughout, barely blinking when she said her name was Earp. And the way he had torn off his companion’s head—

_Shorty’s head._

_No! _Wynonna refused to believe that possibility. Cruel as this Jack might be, Wynonna didn’t believe for a single second that he’d also be dumb enough to give up a hostage before what he wanted was within grasp. Easier to believe that the other revenant had pissed Jack off and that the tearing sound she had heard _hadn’t _been human meat being ripped apart, the blood spilling everywhere in a geyser, the flesh stretching but not holding on as—

“Wynonna?”

Wynonna turned and saw Jeremy, looking scared as she felt. “Can you, maybe….slow down?”

“No,” she said. “You heard that call.”

“I know, I know, but rushing in there is crazy—”

“_Everything_ is crazy right now,” said Wynonna, the homestead finally coming into view. “but Shorty needs—”

Something sliced across her face, and Wynonna gasped. The speeder wavered, and Wynonna ground it to a halt. They were about two hundred yards from the main building. From inside the property, Wynonna heard a voice say, “Is that you, young lady? I must say, you made excellent time. Tell me, did my blade cut you deep?”

Jack. Wynonna pulled Jeremy out of the speeder and hid behind it, keeping it between them and the homestead. “Oh, I’m totally fine, mister!” she shouted back. “That extra hair was just blocking my eyeline anyway!” She turned to Jeremy and whispered, “Well?”

“Well, _what_?” he said anxiously.

“Come on, man, I thought you were enhanced or built up or something. Can’t you….I don’t know….smoke this guy out or something?”

“Okay, that is _not_ what I was made for! I’m for endurance and entertainment and conversation and finding lost things with super-scary accuracy! Not combat!”

“Oh, wonderful,” she said. She drew Peacemaker and fired off a few standard blasts. A thought occurred to her: “Wait….finding how?”

“Just…..finding them. Going over paths, picking up on trace elements…”

“Think you can tell which building Jack the hack is in?”

“Uh…” Jeremy peeked over the speeder. “There’s footprints…” He screamed and ducked back behind their cover. A knife was sticking out of his shoulder. “Barn. He’s definitely in the barn.”

“Okay…” Wynonna looked over at the barn. The door stood open and Wynonna thought she could just barely make out the shape of her enemy. _One target, six hundred feet to cover…. “_Hey, Jeremy?”

“Yeah?”

“Stay here. I’ve got a really bad idea.” She rose swiftly and started firing repeatedly towards the barn. Without pausing, she leaped into the driver’s seat of the speeder and keyed it. The speeder woke up, and Wynonna quickly move the controls into position. “This is gonna hurt,” she said, and then she pushed the release. The speeder took off instantly. Wynonna had just enough time to regret her impulse when the speeder tore through the front corner of the barn. Grabbing the controls, she whirled it around and started firing, shouting “_Make your peace, motherfucker!_” The gun clicked, and suddenly bright blue bolts were firing out of the gun and through the hole the speeder had left in the barn wall. Wynonna exited the speeder and ran over, staying low. “Jack?” she called out. “You in there?”

Nothing answered her, and Wynonna entered. A low groan and laugh came from a pile of rubble, and Wynonna walked over to it. There was Jack…or what was left of him. A quarter of him appeared to have disintegrated entirely. His formerly fine clothes were either ripped or burning slowly away. Wooden beams covered his legs as he tried uselessly to pull himself forward with his one remaining hand. “Wow,” said Wynonna casually. “You having a rough day there, bud?”

Jack looked up at her, a grim smile on his face. “Oh, it’s not the worst day anyone has ever had. Certainly it’s better than the one you had out front twenty or so years ago.” At the look on her face, Jack laughed again. “Yes, I remember now. Coming here with my ‘friends’, killing Ward Earp….all to get that gun.”

“Yeah, it is pretty sweet, isn’t it?” Wynonnna held up the gun and ran her hand along its shaft. “Was thinking of repainting it, though. What do you think? Is ‘revenant blood brown’ still in?”

Jack smiled. “Oh…..so much. Lord help me, I wish I could see what happens next, young lady.”

“You mean when I find my sister? Yeah, I can tell you. I’m gonna get her a gun of her own and we’re gonna kick the ass of all your friends and your freaky boss.”

“Your sister….” Jack laughed again, deeper even then before. “Yes, there will be such a fight, and it will be beautiful. The tragedy, the death, and at the end, Lord Clootie, presiding over all.”

Wynonna had heard enough. “Can’t wait,” she said, pressing Peacemaker to Jack’s forehead. “This is for Shorty.”

“The old man? You’re getting ahead of things, milady.”

Wynonna stopped. “What do you mean?”

“Oh, your friend is still alive. Should be next to Malcolm’s body, still.” He smiled. “You know…..that’s nearly half of us gone, who were here. Three down, four left….one more thing I wish I could see. I do wonder, though….”

“Wonder what?” Wynonna said impatiently.

“Why you’re still here instead of maybe saving Master Simons.” Jack’s laughter echoed against the barn walls, and Wynonna fired Peacemaker into his skull, the superheated blue plasma cooking the chip inside Jack’s skull and turning it and him into nothing. “Headshots only, then….nice.” Wynonna looked at the body to see if anything more would happen, but it didn’t. She turned and ran into the house. “Shorty!” she called. “Where are you?”

A groan came from the kitchen area. Wynonna ran and saw a body lying on the floor with a head next to it. “Shorty?”

“Hey, Wy,” coughed Shorty from behind her. “You come back to apologize for running off last night?’

Wynonna turned and nearly cried. Shorty was covered with cuts that had been cauterized as quickly as they’d been made. His arms, his chest, his face…there didn’t seem to be an inch of him that hadn’t been touched. Her gaze traveled downward and she saw the worst and the reason he was still lying here – both of his legs had been neatly severed just above the knee. Jack had been wrong about one thing – even if he was still alive, there was no saving Shorty. “Hey, old man,” Wynonna said, kneeling down next to him. “How you holding up?”

“Better than you after your first hangover,” he replied.

“Hey, give me a break. I was fifteen and had never had anything from off-planet. It was heavier than I was expecting.” The pair laughed until another coughing fit cut Shorty off. “Wynonna…they wanted the droids.”

“I know,” she said. “Apparently they belong to….some fugitive royal, or something. I’ve got them.”

Shorty tried to sit up. “No! Get them out of here, before—”

“Hey, relax. I took care of it. They won’t be bothering us anymore.” Wynonna held up the gun, and Shorty’s eyes widened in recognition.

“How did you—”

“Holliday,” she said simply. Shorty nodded once. He coughed one more time, and Wynonna held him through it. He stopped and a big breath escaped him as he went still and quiet. “Just…take it easy for a second, okay?” She told Shorty. “I’m gonna get you some water, and then—”

“Don’t bother.”

Wynonna turned at the sound of the voice and saw Doc behind her. His hat was off and he had a sad look in his eyes. “Are you crazy?” she shouted. “I know he’s hurt bad, but we can probably still—”

“No,” said Doc. He didn’t elaborate any, and Wynonna looked back at a passed-out Shorty.

“Shorty?” She shook him, but he was still quiet. “Shorty, come on, wake up.” Shorty didn’t move, and a chill settled over Wynonna. She grabbed Shorty and started shaking him even harder. “Come on, Robert Simons! It is too early and you are too young to be falling asleep like this! Wake up! Wake! Up!” Tears started to fall down Wynonna’s face as she tried slapping Shorty’s body. “Please, Shorty, wake up. Please…” Sobs escaped her throat , and she felt rather than heard Doc step up behind her. A hand placed itself on her shoulder, and she held it.

“We should start a pyre for him,” Doc said.

She nodded and stood. The tears still fell silently. Without speaking, her and Doc and Dolls moved through the property, gathering materials. Doc constructed a small bench in the front yard out of the broken wood in the shed and some spare nails he found. Wynonna went into Shorty’s room and gathered some sheets to wrap all of him in. As she finished gathering his parts together, Doc reentered and said, “The bed’s all set.”

“Good.”

Doc shuffled his feet. “You…..you need some help with him?”

“I got it,” she said, Doc nodded, and Wynonna slid her arms underneath the wrapped body. She grunted trying to lift him, but he was too much for her to carry. She looked over at Doc, who seemed to understand. Heading for his lower half, Doc counted off. “On three. One—”

“Three,” Wynonna finished, and lifted him by the shoulders. Silently, they carried the form of Robert ‘Shorty” Simons out the door and to the waiting bier, where Jeremy and Dolls stood. They placed him on the bier and took a step back. Wynonna nodded at Dolls, and a stream of fire erupted from the droids mouth, engulfing Shorty. As the pyre burned, Wynonna said, “He was my only real connection to this place, you know?”

“I have some inkling,” said Doc.

“You said before that you were a tracker.” Wynonna turned from the fire and looked Doc square in the eye.

“I did.”

“Think you could track down my sister?”

“I do.”

Wynonna nodded. “Let’s get moving then,” she said.

“I’m telling you, keeping the girl alive this long is a mistake,” complained Father Cryderman, desperate to bring the rest of the circle around to his way of thinking. “She’s clever and determined, and that is a dangerous combination in one so…young.”

“Young?” said one of the other chosen. “Honestly, Judge, just admit you want to keep her with your other ‘trophies’ and have done.”

“You mind your tongue, Hamilton,” threatened Cryderman, “lest it end up on the floor with all _your_ trophies.” Cryderman turned to the other leaders, a collection of humans and revenants who had, through fair means and foul (mostly foul), earned a spot of power here on the _God’s Tower_, the most powerful station to ever have been built. Housing over one million members of the church, the _God’s Tower_ would be the final line of defense _and_ offense in the church’s arsenal.

If, that was, Cryderman could convince Clootie’s chosen of the more practical dangers that still threatened to stamp them out. “This is a very serious matter, gentlemen. Even without the rebellion, the so-called legitimate government—”

“Will no longer be an issue for us,” said an aged female entering the room. Cryderman turned and saw Mother Clootie, one of the few women to have risen to a superior rank in the church, entering the meeting chamber. She had a retinue of two guards trailing her, and behind them, her chief enforcer of the word, Robert Del Rey. “I’ve just received word from my dear husband that the last vestiges of government have been swept away. The only power left in this galaxy is that of Lord Clootie.” She laughed lightly as she said this, a wicked smile flitting across her mouth.

One of the other human chosen, Lord Beausmith, didn’t quite believe what he was hearing. “Impossible,” he said. “Everything that the government runs – the towns, the people, the economy….our lord is powerful, but that powerful?”

“Oh, there will be some middlemen, to be sure. Regional branches of our forces will now have direct control of their territories, with their commanders now caring for a city instead of just an outpost. As for any disputes that may arise….well, the locals already fear us. Now, with this station, they will fear our sword as well.”

“And what of the rebellion?” countered Cryderman, who momentarily relished the look of displeasure that crossed Clootie’s face. “If those plans the princess stole were to be found by the right people, than it is equally possible that the rebels _could_ find a weakness…..and if they can do that, they can use it.”

Del Rey turned his gaze on Cryderman. “Calm yourself, Father,” he intoned. “Two of my most trusted are already on the ground, and those ‘plans’ you’re so worried about will soon be back where they belong.”

A short bark of laughter came from the other side of the table. “You all worry too much,” said Father Moody. “The rebellion is nothing but children with rocks compared to us. With the amount of firepower we now have, nothing can stop us.”

Del Rey crept towards Moody. “You sound very certain of that, Father.”

Moody met him. “Why shouldn’t I? This station is all the protection our regime could ever need.”

“Oh, is it?” asked Del Rey. He appeared to consider Moody’s words. “So it will still protect you if I do….” Del Rey rushed towards Moody and slammed his head into the table. One of the nearby men rose to assist Moody, but Del Rey neatly kicked him back into his seat. With a roar, Del Rey lifted Moody up with almost no effort and held the man against the wall, one hand tight around his neck. “…..this?”

Cryderman turned to their mother. “Lady Clootie! Please, enough!”

Lady Clootie appeared entranced by Moody’s struggle for life for a moment, and then she sighed. “This is pointless. Release the maggot, Robert.”

“As you wish, Mrs. Clootie,” said Del Rey. He loosened his grip slightly and Moody gasped, air returning to his lungs. “Thank….thank you…” he said.

Del Rey’s face turned sour and he threw Moody back at his seat, with both chair and father spilling across the floor as the other members struggled to keep their composure. Lady Clootie regarded the rest of them. “We have the princess and whatever information she has. If Robert’s forces are to be trusted, we will soon have the plans as well. Once those are returned, we will be able to crush the rebellion for good. Dismissed – oh, not you, Robert.”

The other leaders filed out, Cryderman as always the last to go. _One of these days_, mused Del Rey, pleasuring himself with visions of showing Cryderman his innards. He turned to Clootie and waited for her to speak.

“How go things with our guest?” she said.

“Slowly. She’s refused all meals – violently – and chooses to answer questions with either long statements that go nowhere or absolute silence.”

“Oh, poor dear,” said Lady Clootie mockingly as she moved next to him. “Does my boy need someone to do the job for him?”

Del Rey moved away. “Enough, Constance. I will get information out of her. You just worry about pleasing your husband.”

As Del Rey exited, he heard laughter behind him. Furious, he stalked to the elevator, not bothering to brush aside any unfortunate enough to be in his way. The girl had been in their custody for well over a day at this point. Thus far, they had avoided anything invasive in questioning her.

_A time for everything._ The lift doors opened on level five, in one of the sectors that might conceivably be called the unofficial ‘basement’ of the _Tower_. It was here that the prisoners of the church were stored, those who attempted to fight it and those who were ‘reluctant’ to spread its word. In Del Rey’s mind, each of these cells was filled with a prisoner that was just begging to have information tortured out of them. Del Rey went to the control console and punched in an extremely special code known only to him and a few others. An image of a very special product developed by some of their scientists appeared on screen. When injected into a host, it tended to cause violence, irrationality, and then a very painful death, often brought on by the host’s own hand in an effort to make the pain stop. When released in aerosol form, it was slightly less potent; instead of complete insanity, the host suffered from a loss of inhibitions for a period of about twelve hours. During this period, the host was often extremely suggestible and extremely direct, making it the next best thing to an actual truth serum.

Del Rey extracted the serum from the fabrication unit. He headed for the lone occupied cell and entered a command on the keypad next to the door. Instantly, the door seemed to disappear, being replaced by an image of Princess Waverly, lying on the cot.

Del Rey pounded hard on the door, and Waverly sat up. Her once neatly put-together hair had come undone since he had last visited her and now fell across her shoulders and down her back. There were faint tear tracks on her cheeks as though she’d been crying, but in her eyes, where the real Waverly Gibson lived, was that same fierceness that had made her attack him on her ship.

“What do you want, Del Rey?” she spat.

“What I want, my angel,” he replied, “is for us to talk of where your friends are.”

“I’m not telling you anything.”

“I thought that might be the case. Fortunately, I have some help.” He held up the serum. “Now, this substance doesn’t have an official name, but some of the tech boys have taken to calling it–”

“Devil’s breath,” said Waverly, and Del Rey thought he heard an ounce of fear creep into her voice.

“Good, you know what it does then.” He moved back to the keypad, and a slot opened beneath it. He inserted the serum and waited. “What you might not know is that the non-liquid version of it is a lot less lethal and a lot more helpful, under the right circumstances.” The fans above Waverly turned on and started blowing the gas into her room. “You’ll see what I mean soon….and you might even enjoy it.”

In her cell, Waverly started coughing violently as the gas entered her system. Del Rey heard her scream in pain as it entered her lungs. He waited another minute for things to finish, and then he went back to the cell, where Waverly stood blankly, her eyes barely twitching, the irises having gone almost completely black.

“Now, then,” said Del Rey. “Where should we begin?”

Waverly looked up at him….

….and smiled.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If anyone was paying attention during the meeting, you may have noticed a Lord Beausmith. Just confirming that yes, this is my way of giving the creator of Wynonna a cameo.


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wynonna and Doc try to secure a ship off-planet; meanwhile, a desperate captain gets an intriguing job offer...

“Are you sssssure I can’t get you anything else?” said the room manager. “Cup of coffee, cup of sssssoup, cup of flesssssh?”

Nicole rolled her eyes. “Assuming that last one has anything to do with sex, definitely not. You probably wouldn’t have what I’m looking for anyway.”

The room manager grinned. “Oh, missss….we have all kindssss here. You jussst—”

Nedley grabbed the snakelike manager by his distended hood, and the man screeched in pain. “I believe the lady said we only wish to leave. Why not be a good little worm and let us be on our way, hmm?”

Nedley pushed the Chordatid back so hard he hit the wall and ended up coiling all over himself. The creature slowly pulled itself back upright and hissed unhappily. “Did not mean….offensssse…to the lady.”

“And I’m not offended, I just want to pay and leave, alright?” The room manager nodded. “Alright?” She turned to Nedley, who gave a perfunctory nod of his own. “Okay, then,” Nicole slid her chit into the reader and inwardly cringed as two hundred credits disappeared from her account. That left her with 9,800, and combined with Nedley’s reported six and an assumed twenty-five percent interest fee for the lost goods… “Not enough,” she muttered. The manager looked up at her, but she just shook her head. The reader beeped once and she removed her chit. “Thanks for the room,” she said politely, meaning “This place should be destroyed.”

“Have a good day,” said the manager, in a tone that no doubt meant “I will have dreams of killing you both tonight.”

“Get bent,” said Nedley. “Come on, Nicole, let’s go.”

Nicole followed Nedley out into the sunshine. The town must have been known for early risers, because the streets were already packed with people selling various wares or trying to find passage off-planet. There was a detachment of church soldiers milling through the streets, probably based off of one of the freighters that had tried to stop them on their way in. “You didn’t have to do that, you know.”

Nedley looked offended. “What, defend your privacy? ‘Course I did.”

“I can fight my own battles, boss. I’m not some green cadet fresh out of the academy about to be jumped by my fellow guards for not liking the right people.”

“Yeah, well….” Nedley checked behind them. “At least your friend isn’t following us. Think he’ll do what we need him to?”

“Oh, yeah. If our simple presence wasn’t enough, you threatening to tear him in half definitely did the trick.”

“See? It was for a good reason.” Nicole laughed and swung her arm around the old man and gave him a big hug. Nedley stiffened for a second and then relaxed into it. “You know, we only need one agent of Bunny’s to call her about us, not the whole city.”

“Shut up, old man,” said Nicole affectionately. She broke the hug and looked around. “So, what should we do in the meantime?”

“Well, there’s a bar over there,” said Nedley. “Could be a good place to find any jobs that might need doing.”

“Over where?”

Nedley pointed to a modest-sized unit just off the main drive. The sign out front originally had said _Shorty’s_, but someone seemed to have drawn over the _or_ and replaced it with _it_. “Looks….delightful.”

“Hey, if you have a better idea, I’m all ears.”

She didn’t. “Come on. We may as well check it out. Maybe we’ll get lucky.”

Wynonna guided the speeder into Purgatory City, trying not to run over anyone. Traffic was heavier than normal for both people and vehicles. _Probably has something to do with Jack and the droids_, she thought. Her mouth curled up in a slight smile at the memory of sending the sadistic revenant down to whatever awaited him.

Doc noticed her smile. “Penny for your thoughts?”

Wynonna shook her head. “It’s nothing.” She nodded ahead at the guards approaching them. “Heads up. We might have some trouble.”

Doc nodded and leaned back, his hand drifting casually to rest near his pistol. “Just in case,” he said when he saw her looking. Wynonna nodded and edged the speeder up.

“What’s your business here?” said one with gold stripes on his armor.

“Looking to get rid of an old droid,” Wynonna answered.

“We’re selling him cheap, if you’re interested,” added Doc helpfully. “Three thousand or best offer.”

“No thanks,” said Gold. “How long have you had them?”

“It,” corrected Wynonna. “Couple years, give or take.” The guard moved to the back, and Wynonna whispered to Doc, “Be ready.”

Behind her, the guard said, “We’ve had reports of some missing droids – a cyborg and a DLS. Kinda like the ones you have back here.”

Doc exploded with laughter. “Cyborg? Him?” He hiked a thumb at Jeremy. “Oh, officer…that was indeed a welcome laugh. Jeremy, show the guard how much of a ‘cyborg’ you are.”

“Uh…what?” Jeremy stopped looking around and focused on Doc.

“This gentlemen believes you to be a cyborg. Ridiculous, of course, but perhaps a demonstration of your powers will convince him otherwise.”

“A demonstration? I’m…I don’t…”

“Oh, for god’s sake,” said Doc. He leapt out of the speeder and dragged Jeremy out the back, dropping him on the ground. Jeremy coughed and struggled to his feet, only to be knocked backward by a punch from Doc. “Fight me, robot.”

“Doc!” shouted Wynonna. “What the hell are you doing?”

“We apparently have a cyborg with us, so I thought I would take the opportunity to practice my fisticuffs.”

“You idiot.” Wynonna bent down to help Jeremy up. “Come on, let’s get back in the speeder.”

“Hold it,” said Gold. Wynonna turned. The guard was holding out his datapad. “Thumb, please.”

Sighing, Wynonna pressed her thumb to the digital display. The guard scanned her information and said, “Wynonna Simons, you are being issued a ticket for attempting to stall an official investigation. Present this at the local bursars office with payment within ten days or a warrant will be issued for your arrest.” The guard held out the ticket, and Wynonna grabbed it. “Have a nice day.”

“Yeah, yeah,” she said. She glared at where Doc and Jeremy stood in the dirt. “Get in.”

The two didn’t argue and quickly boarded the speeder. Wynonna took off through the streets and turned to Doc. “What the hell were you doing?”

“Proving that Jeremy was human.”

“By punching him?”

“The damage to him was minimal, and he’s already recovered, apart from being a little dirtier than normal….right, Jeremy?”

Doc turned and Jeremy was indeed sitting up and grinning. “I just got in my first fight,” he said proudly.

“And lost,” finished Wynonna. Jeremy frowned, and Wynonna turned onto a side street and stopped the speeder in front of Shorty’s. “We’re here.”

Doc got out. “Wynonna, I can appreciate the need for a stiff drink at a time like this, but we really do need—”

“This is my bar, Doc – or, our bar…..was our bar.” Wynonna took a moment to collect herself. “Look, if I’m gonna be chasing after Waverly and smuggling secret plans, I need to travel light, and that means signing this place over to a new owner….one that I need to have a talk with, anyway. Plus, the place usually has a bunch of pilots or smugglers looking for work. Talk to some, maybe you’ll find someone looking for an easy mark.”

Wynonna turned and went up the steps. Doc called, “You mean easy job, right?” Wynonna shrugged and pushed open the swinging double doors to the bar. It was even more crowded than normal, which was good as far as business went. Now she just had to find…

“Wynonna? The hell are you doing in today, girl?”

Wynonna looked at the door leading to the basement and storage, where a tough-looking older woman with gray hair was standing. “Hi, Gus.” she said. “We need to talk.”

Doc looked around the bar uncertainly, sizing up the various customers. They seemed to be an even mix of just about every race the galaxy had to offer. There were some human customers, true, but there were also Marsohins, Klingles, Velourians, and half a dozen more that he couldn’t even begin to name. Sighing, he made for the bar, brushing up against a few unfortunate folks, and found an empty seat next to (thankfully) another human.

“Whiskey, neat,” The bartender nodded and went about fixing what was probably the most basic drink on the menu.

“Finally,” said the man next to him. “Someone who appreciates good liquor over fancy put-ons.”

Doc turned and regarded the speaker. He seemed to be closing in on sixty years of age. His short hair was turning to gray, and he had a trim goatee of roughly the same color. His clothes were torn in a few spots, but his solid black shirt and khakis still roughly resembled an old sheriff’s uniform from back before Clootie’s forces made such things all but obsolete. “Well, I suppose any man who can recognize a good drink is worthy of at least a spot of conversation, Mr….”

“Nedley. Formerly Sheriff Randall, but now….just Nedley.”

“To the death of your former occupation, then,” Doc said kindly, and raised his glass. Nedley raised his own back and the two men drank. “Might I ask, what brings you here? Purgatory isn’t exactly a place known for high-end entertainment and fine dining.”

The bartender looked hurt. “Hey, what are you—”

“I’m friends with Wynonna,” Doc said. The bartender raised his hands in surrender and got back to work. Doc turned back to Nedley.

“Well, you know…my partner—”

“Partner?”

“Well….I say partner. Depending how we feel about each other, that can change by the day. It is her ship, though.” Doc nodded in understanding. “Anyway, we just finished up our last job and are looking for the next.”

“I see….” said Doc slowly. “And pray tell, where might this silent majority of a partner be right now?”

“Wow,” said Gus, after Wynonna had finished telling her everything.

“You really didn’t know?”

“Did I know Michelle had a thing for that guy? Sure. She used to talk about her divine love all the time. Mostly I just wrote it off as a fantasy, especially with how tough your dad could be sometimes—”

“Come on, Gus, really?”

“I know, I know, don’t speak ill of the dead to their relatives….and he definitely loved all three of you, no one’s questioning that.” Gus sighed and took a swig out of a nearby bottle. Whatever it was must have burned horribly, since Gus nearly doubled over. “Hooo….gotta put a warning on that.”

“What about the rest?”

“With you having a sister?” Gus laughed deeply. “Honey, she’s been gone for over twenty years. If they timed it right, you could have four sisters, three brothers, and maybe even a niece or nephew by now.”

Wynonna sat back, trying to digest that. A whole other family….it was mind-blowing. “You know I have to find her, right?”

“Yeah…..no, I don’t.” Gus looked at her, and Wynonna saw a hint of sadness in her eyes. “What you need to do is take some time to mourn for Shorty, and give his other friends a chance to do the same.”

Wynonna shifted uncomfortably. “We—”

“Already burned the body, I know. But what about your heart? Or my heart? Did you burn those too?” Gus sighed. “I know you won’t listen to me, and I get it – finding family when you thought you had none is a blessing. Still, I have to say something, don’t I?”

“You can say you’ll take the bar.”

“I will not,” said Gus primly. At Wynonna’s face, she added, “Oh, calm down. I only mean I’m not gonna name myself sole owner. Your name will still be on the paperwork. I’ll just bump myself up to co-owner after Shorty’s….”

Wynonna leapt forward and hugged the old woman before she could finish the sentence. “Thanks, Gus.”

“Oh, don’t thank me yet. You haven’t seen the raise I plan on giving myself.”

Wynonna laughed. “You deserve it, you crazy broad. Also, a brand-new used speeder.”

“I don’t know about that one, but thank you all the same,” said Gus. “Go find your cowboy and get outta here, okay?”

Wynonna nodded and headed back to the main floor. She pushed through hordes of customers as the music finished it’s current high-energy selection and switched over to a more relaxed track. “Doc!” she yelled.

“Right here, Wynonna.” Wynonna turned and saw Doc at the bar, talking with an out-of-shape lawman that looked like he’d been beat up ten different ways. “Who’s this?” she asked.

“This is Nedley. He’s the co-pilot on a ship that may be able to help us.”

“Alright….then where’s the pilot?”

Nedley pushed past her. “She’s this way. Come on.”

Nicole sat at the table her and Nedley had found in the back and stared into the steaming dark liquid that rested in her mug. When they’d arrived in the bar and saw the coffee dispenser behind it, Nicole took it as a sign that they’ picked the right place. Now that she had the barely-mobile liquid in front of her, though, she wondered if she’d have been better off ordering something else. Paint, maybe, or perhaps some form of poison….

Looking around, she saw the usual assortment of uglies that took up residence in places like this: bounty hunters either celebrating or looking for a score, unemployed residents trying to drown their sorrows, and pilots (like her) looking for the next job. Granted, she doubted any of them were as skilled in the cockpit as her, but…..she plucked at the frayed shoulder patches on her flight jacket, and sighed.

“Nicole.”

Nicole looked up and saw Nedley standing over her. Behind him was a cowboy with a decent-looking hat and mustache and a leather-jacketed woman with hair that looked like it had been styled by the most fashion-conscious sandstorm to ever exist. Switching straight to business-mode, Nicole nodded. “How do you do?”

“Quite well, thank you,” said the man, taking a seat across from her. “I assume you are Captain Haught?”

“Nicole Haught, and yes, I’m the captain of the _Stetson_. And you are….”

“Ah, of course, where are my manners. This is Wynonna Si—”

“Earp,” said the woman. “Wynonna Earp.”

The man seemed surprised for a second, but continued. “Wynonna Earp, and I am John Holliday. We were hoping to borrow your ship for a trip to Alderaan.”

Nicole leaned forward. “Okay, three things. First, _no one_ ‘borrows’ my ship; you can pay me for a job that I’ll undertake with it, but unless both me and Nedley are dead, no one else lays a finger on that flight stick.”

“Of course!” Holliday said quickly. “I didn’t mean to imply—”

“Second,” Nicole continued, “….did you say Holliday? As in John Henry Holliday?”

Holliday let out a nervous laugh as the woman – Earp – stared straight at her. “Well, now…._that_ would be quite ridiculous.”

“Yeah, and so would things that don’t die no matter how many lasers you put in them—”

Wynonna let out a bored scream. “Oh, my god, we get it. You have rules, blah, blah, blah. Fine; he’s Doc Holliday, I’m Wyatt Earp’s granddaughter, we need a ride to Alderaan. Happy?”

Nicole looked back and forth between the two, but let that pass. “Fine, whatever. Third, this might just be a ride to you, but it’s a job to me, and for that, I need payment.”

Wynonna leaned forward. “Well, we need speed, so what are we paying for?”

“Speed?” asked Nicole. “What, you got a hot date or something waiting for you?” Doc pulled Wynonna back, and the mood calmed. “Look, don’t worry about the _Stetson_. She’s fast enough, and what she might lack in speed she more than covers in maneuverability. Trust me, she’s definitely the ship you want.”

“I’m sure she’ll do fine,” said Doc. “How much?”

“Well….it is just you guys, right?”

“And two droids, yeah,” said Wynonna.

“So four passengers….” Nicole pretended to do some quick math in her head. “Let’s say…..ten thousand. All in advance.”

Wynonna’s face turned furious. “I’m sorry, ten _thousand_? Are you insane?”

“That’s the price, take it or leave it.”

“Uh, I think leave it, Haught-Shit. That’s enough to get our own basic ship.”

“Yeah, the keyword there is ‘basic’, and neither of you two looks like a trained pilot.”

“Oh, my fist is trained so much better than the rest of you, you—”

“_If I may propose something_,” Doc said loudly. The two women stopped arguing and looked at him. “We give you two thousand cash now…” Doc produced a wad of bills from his pocket. “….and an additional fifteen when we reach our destintion.”

Nicole blinked. “So…..seventeen thousand, huh?”

Doc nodded. “Balance on delivery, or as soon as I get to talk to some friends there.”

Nicole thought it over. She looked over at Nedley, who shrugged but gave a reluctant thumbs up. “Okay,” she said. “Deal. We’ll leave as soon as you’re ready. Docking Bay 77.”

“Thank you.” said Doc. “Come on, Wynonna.” Wynonna protested slightly, but followed along.

Once they were out of sight, Nicole let slip the grin that had been threatening to burst forth for the past minute. “Seventeen thousand,” she said excitedly.

“That is what the man said,”

“This is…._perfect_. We wire Bunny the two, then once we get to Alderaan…” She stopped talking when she saw Nedley’s frown. “What? This is a good thing.”

“You didn’t see the old guy’s face? I get the feeling they were more interested in _when_ they left than how.”

“Yeah, I can relate,” said Nicole. “Come on, let’s get back to the ship and start warming her up. Cover the tab, would you?”

“Yeah, yeah…” Nedley reached for his moneyclip and started flipping through it. He paused, and then recounted. “That’s weird.”

“What’s weird?”

“There’s two hundred missing….must have dropped it somewhere…”

Nicole sighed. “So you _don’t _have enough for the fifty credits of drinks?”

“No, no, I got it, it’s just weird.” He pulled off a fifty credit note and fed it into the table. A thought occurred to him. “Hey, you don’t think that the cowboy…”

Nicole turned. “….that the cowboy what?”

Nedley thought about it, then shrugged. “Forget it. Let’s go.”

“Thank you.” said Doc. “Come on, Wynonna.”

“Doc, wait, we can’t just—” Wynona’s protests were cut off by Doc grabbing her and pulling her outside. Once out of the bar, Nicole turned to her companion. “Okay, what was that all about? And where did you get two thousand paper credits from?”

“I simply felt we’d spent enough time in there and should return to check on our associates,” Doc said amiably as he wandered down the front stoop towards where Jeremy and Dolls waited out front. Jeremy got up as they approached. “Hey, guys, how’s it going?”

“It’s fine, Jeremy. We got a ride to Alderaan super cheap. The captain’s a bit of a priss, but – _oh my God._” said Wynonna with realization. “You stole all that, didn’t you?”

Doc smiled innocently. “In my defense, those people should keep their loose papers in secure containers rather than sticking out of their pockets.”

Wynonna rolled her eyes. “Anyway, we need to get to Docking Bay 77. Get out.”

Jeremy nodded, and he and Dolls both exited the vehicle. “So which way—”

“Quiet,” said Doc. He looked around the area. “I think we should perhaps get off the road. Now.”

“We weren’t doing that already?”

“This way,” said Doc. He ducked down an alley between Shorty’s and the next building. Wynonna followed along behind, but he was moving fast. “Doc, will you wait up—mmmph!” Doc covered her mouth and held her to the wall as she rounded the corner. “Quiet,” he instructed, and she nodded. He removed his hand and crept up to the corner. “What the hell—”

“Shhh!” He drew his gun. Two figures were approaching at a rapid pace. Wynonna drew Peacemaker and raised it….

“Hold it!”

“Ah! Don’t shoot! I want to live!”

“Jeremy?” The cyborg looked up and recognition filled his features. “Oh, good, it’s you guys. We need to go.”

“Go?’ Wynonna said. “Wait, what about Dolls?”

“Dolls…yeah, he’s…”

A trooper flew out of the alley and crashed into the wall. Dolls exited the alley and came to a stop in front of them. Wynonna sighed. “I can’t take you anywhere, can I?” When Dolls didn’t respond, she turned to Jeremy. “Which way to 77?”

“Hang on.” Jeremy went still for a moment. Lights danced in his eyes until he asked, “You want the quickest way or the shortest?”  



	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Our heroes encounter challenge after challenge as they attempt to get their adventure under way

Del Rey tossed the empty syringe that had formerly held Devil’s Breath at Lady Clootie’s feet. “Useless,” he told her. “Worse than useless, it was a complete waste of time.” He kicked the syringe against the wall of the control room, causing it to shatter into a dozen pieces.

Clootie was unmoved. “So am I to understand that the serum….didn’t work?”

“Oh, it worked,” Del Rey laughed mirthlessly. “It turned her from a stubborn princess into a perfect prostitute, willing to do anything and everything.”

“Oh, Robert, tell me you didn’t—”

“Please. I do have _some_ manners.” He paced back and forth restlessly, his white fur-lined outfit making him look like some sort of eternally hungry shark. “That was the problem, though. At her core, she’s still extremely smart, and she knew what I wanted….and what I would and wouldn’t do to get it.”

Clootie smiled wickedly. “Celibacy is unbecoming of you, young man. I thought you had more balls than that.”

Before Del Rey could respond, a technician came over. “Ma’am, all systems are now operational. The _God’s Tower _is fully online. What is our heading?”

Clootie looked thoughtful and drifted over to the galaxy map. “Perhaps we’re going about this all wrong, Robert. Maybe instead of attacking her, we should aim for those close to her.”

Del Rey looked at Clootie, trying to parse her words. She gestured towards a spot on the map, and he grinned in understanding. “Helm!” he shouted.

“Sir?” said the nervous young officer.

“Set our course for Alderaan.” He turned to Clootie, who, for the first time that he could remember, looked genuinely happy. “It seems the princess is heading home.”

“For a moment, at any rate,” replied Clootie.

Nicole and Nedley wandered the back alleys of Purgatory, slowly wending their way back to the ship. The direct route was blocked by some kind of scuffle in the streets, which meant they needed to take a slightly more circuitous route there. From what some people were saying, it sounded like a droid had started attacking some soldiers, and—

“Look out!”

Nicole felt herself being pulled backwards by Nedley, just as a familiar looking Tolgaran crossed the alley in front of them, his two heads and six eyes peeled for….someone. Probably them. “Dammit…” said Nicole. “That’s one of Bunny’s guys, isn’t it?”

“Yeah,” said Nedley. “Safe bet that she got the message we left with the hotel owner.”

“Okay….” Nicole thought things through quick. “Right. She still wants the money from us for sure. The cargo has only been gone a few hours. At the very least, she’d want to gloat a little before killing us – that fat slug could never resist using one word instead of twenty—”

“Nicole...”

“I know, I know, just hang on.” Nicole continued pacing, a plan forming. “Okay, she’s probably at the ship already, so let’s just duck the rest of these guys and head on over there. She’ll be….pleased to see us.”

A feminine laugh sounded from behind Nedley. “Boy, you must be operating under some outdated definition of ‘pleased’ if you think that’s gonna be the case, Red.” Nicole slowly turned towards the voice. A familiar-looking figure stepped out from behind Nedley. Smaller than Nicole, with dark hair, a cherubic face, and eyes that practically screamed for someone or something to torture, kill, or hunt. Nicole sighed. “Hi, Rosi.”

Rosita grinned impishly back at Nicole. “Hi, baby. You miss me?’

“It was one time and we were both drunk, so….no, not really.”

Rosita looked hurt for a second, but was grinning the next. “So, you two trying to skip planet without dropping by to see Bunny?”

“Actually, we were just on our way to see her—”

“Yeah, from your ship as it left, I bet.”

“No, actually, we have the money we owe her….and what do you care, anyway? I thought you were a bounty hunter, not a private security force.”

“What can I say? I was bored, wanted to settle a bit. There’s no place like home after all, right?” Before Nicole could figure out what that meant, Rosita was saying, “So the money…you really have it?”

Nicole’s smile faltered. “Ye-es….ish.”

“Thought so. Been nice knowing you, honey.” Rosita aimed her gun squarely at Nicole’s chest.

“Waitwaitwait…..doesn’t Bunny want to see me?” said Nicole desperately, hoping to hell the answer was yes.

“Well….” Rosita sighed and put the gun away. “You know, I was really hoping I’d get to kill someone today. Move it.”

Nicole nodded and her and Nedley kept moving, Rosita following closely behind. A guard tried to stop them as they crossed the street, but Rosita just tossed him some money and kept them moving. As they entered the hanger, Nicole heard a second familiar and unwelcome voice shouting at its companions.

“_Where the hell is that bitch? Her ugly little ship is right freaking here, and you useless morons are telling me that you can’t find her? God, what do I even pay you for? Do I pay you? If I do, consider it stopped as of—”_

“Hey, Bunny,” said Nicole.

The owner of the voice stopped and turned around….or oozed around, rather. One of the members of the Molluscan race, Bunny’s people resembled nothing so much as giant slugs that had somehow achieved intelligence. Two sensory stalks poked out of the top of her head, allowing for sight and hearing. Her mouth opened into a toothless smile at the sight of Nicole. “Haught, darling…..come here, won’t you?”

Rosita shoved Haught forward, and Nicole walked over. “You know, the search party was kind of overkill. You could have just asked for a meeting.”

“Well, when a formerly reliable employee starts dumping their cargo – cargo that I specifically requested for my personal collection – at the first sign of trouble….” Bunny tittered. “It worries me.”

“Sure, I get that….just like I get boarded for random inspections sometimes. Besides, I had no way of knowing those assholes would decide to start using the crates for target practice.

“And yet, they did,” said Bunny sadly. “So what am I supposed to do with you now?”

“Wait.”

Bunny reared back in shock. “I’m sorry, I must have misheard you. Did you just tell me to _wait?_”

“Not for long,” Nicole added. “We just picked up a nice easy job, taking a few folks somewhere, and the pay is really good for what the job is. Trust me, you’ll get your money back and then some.”

“Oh, Haught….I want to believe you so bad.” Bunny watched her for a sign, then said, “Fine. You do this thing, and then come back with an extra…forty percent, say, then I’ll—”

“Forty? Really, Bunny? I thought I was your favorite. Ten percent.”

Bunny leered at her. “Best doesn’t necessarily mean favorite, my dear. Thirty.”

“And yet, you keep hiring me. Twenty, and don’t push it anymore. My passengers should be arriving soon.”

Bunny looked as though someone had stepped on her tail. “Fine. Twenty. But I warn you, Haught, if you mess this up, you’ll end up in so much trouble that you’ll _beg_ for me to eat you.”

Haught just smiled at Bunny and said, “You know something, Bunny? You are just too much beauty for me to handle.”

Bunny seemed about to throw up. She gestured to her flunkies and oozed out of the hangar bay, leaving a very relieved and extremely shaken Nicole behind.

Rosita stared at the shuddering figure of Nicole Haught from the shadows for a brief moment. As mistakes go, she wasn’t a horrible one, but all the same….

“Not worth it,” she muttered, and moved to catch up with her temporary employer. One benefit of being as good as she was – she could charge _exactly _what she wanted, get anything she needed to go or hide anywhere for as long as she wanted, and slime like Bunny would still wait for her.

At the corner, she saw the end of Bunny’s party heading towards where they’d parked the skiff that they’d be taking back to Bunny’s palace. As she exited, a harried looking-young woman pushed her way past with barely a sorry, followed by what she was fairly certain was two robots and….

“Hold on,” she said to herself. She tapped a control on her wrist and replayed the passage of the group in her eye implant. The robots backed out as the visual rewound, then…

“Pause.”

Rosita stared at the face onscreen in both shock and delight. A face that should have been dead, but oh, was she happy it wasn’t. Quickly tapping into the net, she found an active warrant for her lost toy and its companions. She couldn’t go after it now, but….

“Call law.” Her request quickly went through to the local law enforcement, which was no doubt being monitored by the church goons. “Hello?” said a bored voice on the other end.

“Get your forces over to docking bay 77. A ship’s about to take off carrying someone your men are looking for. I’m sending the file now, along with my hunting tag.”

There was a pause as the officer verified the information. “Thank you very much, miss. A team has been dispatched and discovery funds have been credited to your account.”

“Not a problem,” said Rosita as she clicked off. She looked longingly back at the hangar. _Not now, dear one, but soon…_

Shaking the thought off for now, she turned and rejoined Bunny’s group.

Wynonna pushed past the woman and in through the door leading to Bay 77. Jeremy’s route through back alleys and buildings had been remarkably quick, and Wynonna was anxious to get moving. She’d noticed some soldiers moving near the entrance, and…

“What. The. Fuck.”

She was staring at a giant hat.

“You like it?” called a voice cheerily from underneath. Nicole came out from beneath the ship, wiping her hands on a rag.

“That…is a hat.”

“No, it’s my ship. The _Stetson_.” She smiled proudly at the thing for reasons Wynonna couldn’t begin to fathom.

“She’s lovely,” said Doc. “Don’t you agree, Wynonna?”

Wynonna just stared. The _Stetson _looked to be a fairly small-to-medium size ship….maybe eighty feet across and thirty high, if Wynonna was any judge. There were two gun placements on either side of the top deck, and it maybe wasn’t the ugliest design that an organic being could have come up with…..but then again, organic beings had a tendency to be remarkably stupid on occasion. “So, what happens at the end of the day, do you hang your ship on a giant rack or just toss it on the floor?”

Nicole turned towards her. “I’m…sorry, what did you say?”

“No, don’t get me wrong, it’s a fine ship, but I’m just wondering if a sombrero might be better…oh! Maybe one of those really tall hats, the ones that just go up and up? Doc, you know what those are called?”

“Well, I…” Doc stammered

Jeremy knew. “Stovepipe hats!” he shouted. “They’re called stovepipe hats, because back when indoor cooking and stoves first became a thing, the piping would just go up and up towards the roof, so…..stovepipe.”

“Right! Thanks, Jeremy!” Jeremy beamed and turned to board. “Were they out of those?”

Nicole’s temple throbbed visibly. “Look, your….dad, or boyfriend, or whatever he is already gave me partial payment, so I’m trying to take the high road here. That ship has gotten me out of more close calls than I can count, and I wouldn’t trade it for anything. She may not look like much, but frankly, I could say the same thing about you, so if you’ll just shut up and get on, we can get out of here.”

Wynonna’s mouth moved for a second at having been so quickly trounced. She floundered for a minute, and came up with, “My gun’s more powerful than yours.”

“Yeah, well, my ship is faster than your non-existent one, so….”

Wynonna nodded, impressed. “Well played, Haught. Well played….” She gave the pilot a love tap on her shoulder and ran up the ramp before she could retaliate further. Inside, she found herself in a cargo bay with a lift at one end and a circular stair built into the middle. One deck up, she heard Nedley giving Doc and the droids a quick rundown of the ship’s layout and went to join.

“This is the main deck where y’all will be staying. There’s bunks in the back near the engines if you wanna get some shut eye, and a kitchen if you get hungry.” Wynonna raised her hand, and Nedley said, “Available drinking options include six month old beer, month old beer, recycled water, and coffee made from recycled water, and no, we do not have any cream or sugar or whatever else you might want to put in. It’s black or it’s nothing.” He gave Wynonna a look, and Wynonna slowly put her hand down.

“Good. Top deck is mainly electrical systems, though we do have controls for the turrets up there too – one port and one starboard, as you saw from outside. There’s a couple extra rooms up there, but we never really have anything to use them for. Finally, if any of our latecomers….” He paused here and looked once more at Wynonna. “…feel the need to do something more than just run laps around the outer ring, there’s some basic workout equipment next to the cargo.” There was the sound of the outer hatch closing, followed by a steady hum, followed by Nicole riding an old lift that cut through the main hall. Nedley bit his lip and said, “Also, there’s that.”

Nicole gestured behind her. “Cockpit’s through there. We went over those rules in the bar. It’s technically a four seater, but—”

Something outside the ship struck the outer hull. “What the hell…” Nicole turned and ran into the cockpit. “Troopers? The hell are they firing at us for?” Nicole pulled a wired mic off the ceiling and pressed a button. “Hey! What the hell are you idiots doing?”

A voice belonging to one of the soldiers rang through the ship. “Your vehicle has been impounded in the name of Lord Clootie, and your departure clearance has been revoked. Stand down and exit the vehicle now!”

“Fucking lying Bunny…” Nicole muttered. Wynonna and Doc glanced at each other, and then at the droids. “Do you think…” Wynonna asked.

“Oh, yeah,” Doc answered.

“Hey!’ Nicole’s voice echoed throughout the ship on the intercom. “You four better strap in or hold on tight! Nedley, get up here, we’re heading out fast!”

As the _Stetson _blasted out of the atmosphere, Nicole checked the holodar and saw two shapes closing in behind them.

“Shit…” she muttered. Behind her, Nedley ran in “Everyone’s snug back there. What do we got?”

“You remember our welcoming committee from yesterday?”

“Yeah?”

“Well, turns out the _Svane _has been joined by…” Nicole checked the readout. “The _Andras_? Oh, boy…”

“Oh, great. So, two of the biggest son-of-a-bitching cruisers in the fleet are after us?”

“Looks like.” Nicole changed course. “Here, take the controls for a second. I’ll warm up the hyperdrive for the jump.”

“Got it,” said Nedley. Nicole went to a console on the far right and started punching in coordinates.

“Hey, what the hell is going on?” shouted Wynonna. She stuck her head in the cockpit doorway as Doc joined her outside.

“Move!” screamed Nicole. For a wonder, she did. Nicole took her seat as Nedley slid the controls back to her side. “We got two cruisers barreling down on us. Either of you want to tell me anything?’

Both passengers clammed up. “Well…” said Doc.

“You know what? Save it until we’re under way.” A bolt from the _Andras_ struck them midship. “Nedley, how the shields holding?”

“Good for now, that was only mid-strength. Seems they’re more interested in capturing then killing.”

“Their mistake, then.” She glanced behind them. “I thought I told you two to strap in!”

Wynonna just stared ahead stubbornly. Doc had turned pale white and didn’t look to be moving at all.

“Fine.” Another blast hit. “Hang on, we almost got a clear path….” Nicole lined the ship up with the projected marker on the canopy. “Three….two….now!”

Nedley threw the twin levers in the middle of the cockpit forward. Immediately Nicole felt the blood in her ears push forward as her body seemed to leap backward. One second later, her body caught up with her blood and she felt herself rock forward and return to herself. Nedley let out the breath he was holding and two thumps and grunts sounded against the quadruple-layered wall cushions between the lift and the kitchen. Nicole checked the readouts one more time. “Approximate flight time, four-point-two hours. Set the timer.”

“Done,” said Nedley.

“You know you don’t actually need to hold your breath, right? The dampeners take care of that.”

“You got your superstitions, I got mine. Go check on our passengers; I’ll get things straight up here.”

“Right.” Nicole undid her safety belts and walked over to where Wynonna and Doc were lying on the floor. They were moving, but painfully. Nicole clapped her hands and said, “So! What have we learned from this?”

“I may vomit,” groaned Doc.

“Sinks in the kitchen. Can’t miss it.” Doc got up and ran, just barely making it. Nicole turned her attention to Wynonna. “And you?”

Wynonna glared daggers at her. “You’re a shitty teacher.”

“So long as we’ve learned to strap ourselves in when we’re told to.” Nicole extended her hand, and Wynonna grabbed hold and let herself be pulled up. “Come on, we got some meat in the icebox. I’ll fix you up something, and you can tell me why I’m thinking of charging extra for this trip.”

“Okay,” groaned Wynonna. “Hey, where’d you say that sink was?”

“Right—” She was cut off by the string of vomit from Wynonna’s mouth that landed on both their boots. “—through there.”

Wynonna smiled weakly. “Sorry.”

Nicole sighed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Little bit of trivia -- the reason I chose Docking Bay 77 for Nicole's iconic ship is both because Star Wars was first released in 1977 and because of Wyatt Earp's 77 kills. It was too good an opportunity to pass up.
> 
> Seperately, I know a lot of you recognize Rosita. I figure if the special edition can throw Boba Fett in there for no reason, why can't I? Plus, it seemed a good idea to lay a little groundwork for part two.
> 
> Finally...yes, I did name one of the ships after our lady Emily. Sue me....except don't really. Again, sometimes I'm just having fun.


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tragedy occurs as our heroes near their destination.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys. This is the big chapter from the climax of the film. I get pretty detailed with the event, so I'm gonna issue a nightmare-warning now. 
> 
> Enjoy!

Lady Constance Clootie, _nee_ Stone, stood on the bridge of the _God’s Tower_, overseeing the actions of all the bothersome little men beneath her. Were it up to her, they would all be killed, and she would have sole control of this vessel. She would use it to destroy every single planet in the galaxy, and then when it was done, she and her husband would bask in the rubble...

The supreme mother sighed. Such thoughts entered her head at a near-hourly rate. Entertaining as they were, they still carried the stench of impracticality. One person operating a vessel the size of a moon might have carried a certain allure, but given the number of tasks required to keep things operational just when it was at rest made the idea little more than a dream.

One of the navigators cleared his throat beside her. She turned to him and raised a single white-blonde eyebrow, it’s color matching perfectly the rest of her uniform. The navigator stood at attention and said, “We’ve entered the Alderaan system, ma’am. Entering planetary alignment now.”

She nodded once as behind her a door slid open. She turned and was greeted by the delightful sight of Robert escorting Princess Waverly onto the bridge, flanked by a pair of guards. Clootie found herself impressed – despite the situation and all that had been done to her, the princess still carried herself with an unwavering confidence, as though she believed that all would turn out well, and that simply because she believed it, it would happen.

_That will change…_ “Princess Waverly,” Clootie said happily. “Thank you for making the time to visit us here in our humble station.”

Waverly was unfazed. “Mother Clootie. Of course. The only thing that would be able to command a dog like Del Rey would be a bitch that was even bigger.”

Clootie’s smile faltered. “So charming…it will be such a loss to the universe when your prattling mouth has finally been shut for good.”

“In that case, I may have some good news for you,” teased the princess. “If my execution is as well run as my capture was, then I will be speaking for some time yet.”

Clootie’s hand shot out from beside her and struck the princess squarely on her left cheek. Were it not for the presence of Del Rey behind her, she would have gone sprawling across the floor. When Waverly had recovered and looked back at her with a slightly reddened cheek, Clootie was satisfied. “Waverly, my dear, you should really feel honored. I have decided to give you a temporary relief from imprisonment and be my guest at an event that will solidify our place as the true power in the galaxy.”

“Every warlord and gang leader in history has always talked about being the true and ultimate power, Mother Clootie….and they’ve all been proven wrong.”

“That was before the rise of my husband, dear. But first, I feel I should thank you.”

That threw her off. “Thank me?” said Waverly.

“Yes. You see, there are so many troublesome planets in the galaxy that it’s hard to pick where to go first. However, due to your reluctance to tell us where your rebel friends are situated, I have found a solution. The test site for this station’s primary weapon will be your home planet of Alderaan.”

“No!” Waverly screamed, her resistance collapsing. “Alderaan is peaceful! We take no sides against the church. Destroying it would—”

“And yet, here you are standing against us!” returned Clootie. “If you truly have no side and would prefer an actual target – one with militaristic value – then _name the system!_”

The bridge was deathly silent. Even Del Rey, who almost always had some sort of commentary on her actions, said nothing. Waverly looked like nothing so much as a caged animal, eyes darting in every direction searching for a way out that did not exist.

“Fine,” said Clootie. “Commence—”

“Dharau”

Clootie turned around. “I’m sorry, Princess. Would you care to repeat that?”

Waverly didn’t meet her gaze or even look at her. “The rebels; they’re on Dharau.”

Clootie leaned down, her hand touching Waverly’s shoulder affectionately. “Thank you, Princess. I know this was difficult for you, and I promise to keep things relatively painless for you going forward.” She stood up and turned back to the tactician. “Commence firing operations.”

“_WHAT?” _Waverly immediately lost any pretense of sorrow. “You said—”

Clootie turned back to Waverly, the hand on her shoulder now pinning her in place. “I said I would make things relatively painless for you. I said nothing of the people on your traitorous little rock.”

“But I—”

“Repeatedly refused to cooperate when it might have spared you pain further down the path – _this _path.” Clootie grinned. “It is a shame. Dharau is far distant from any major travel lanes and its elimination will likely go unnoticed for ages. Still, no need to worry….we will be bringing you back to them soon enough.”

A casual observer located outside the _God’s Tower_ might have been surprised to see it opening up between it’s northern and southern tips. As the front half of the ship turned outwards in opposing directions, one could see the openings of multiple laser cannons of immense size and strength lining the station. Each cannon was twenty kilometers tall, and there were eight of them in total, running the entire length of the ship. It had taken many years to construct and install them all, but they had sat patiently, waiting for the day they would be needed.

Now, technicians stationed at each cannon received a message from the bridge. Each entered a precise series of codes and coordinates into their targeting computer. The eight cannons moved in concert and found coordinates running along Alderaan’s north/south axis.

When the cannons fired, the effect was immediate. In the first five seconds, they punched holes in the planet’s crust directly to its core, triggering massive planetquakes. The planet’s temperature shot up a hundredfold, and those living in coastal areas were suddenly crushed by the massive tidal waves that rose up from out of nowhere.

After thirty seconds, the beams had nearly penetrated to the other side. Those who had not already been crushed or drowned or boiled felt the ground beneath them start to first sink as it melted inward towards the source of heat, then suddenly explode outward, sending their bodies flying through the air for miles before crashing back down, breaking every bone in their bodies.

At the one minute mark, the beams shut off, having penetrated clean to the other side of the planet. By now, approximately 95% of the planets’ population had been killed. Those unfortunate few left who had been near enough to an impact site saw the planet start to drift apart, its core having been penetrated repeatedly. With nothing holding it together and no source of gravity to tie its residents to the surface. the planet of Alderaan had simply given up. Any survivors found themselves falling upward, out of the already depleted atmosphere and into the airless and cold void of outer space.

In less than five minutes, the entire planet had become extinct.

A shrill beeping sounded in the cockpit of the _Stetson_, waking Nicole up from her nap. One thing she had learned over the years was that if ever a quiet moment presented itself, use it to sleep, since odds were that the next one wouldn’t be for a week.

Stretching, Nicole checked their position. There was maybe half an hour of flight left. Shields and panels were all holding together, so they should be in perfect condition once they arrived. A few lights flashed on the console, and Nicole scrolled over to the messages to see one from Bunny:

_Haught—_

_Don’t mess this up! Send money or your head ASAP._

_Love, Bunny_

“Hell…” Nicole moved to the comm. “Nedley, pick up.”

There was a moment and then she heard Nedley’s rough voice saying, “Yeah?”

“Did you wire that money to Bunny like we said we were going to?”

A brief pause, then, “No…but we were being shot at before I could, so—”

Nicole punched the wall. “It’s fine, it’s fine. I’ll just do it myself when we arrive.” Nicole went back to the computer and quickly typed out a reply.

_In hyperspace now. Will wire two when we land and the rest within a day._

She thought about adding a line about Rosi or the troopers, but decided against it. _Nobody_ could control Rosi, at least not for long, and assuming what Holliday and Earp said about their droids was right, the troopers were probably after them and not her, so no use blaming Bunny for that either.

A beep sounded again from the navigation, and she went over. They were still on track to exit hyperspace on schedule, except….

“Huh.” For some reason, all signals of any sort had stopped broadcasting from Alderaan. If it was just the radio or wire, they’d be fine, but if they didn’t have a landing beacon up when the _Stetson_ arrived...

Nicole got up and went to get some coffee, determined to figure this out. As she passed through the rest area, she saw Dolls and Jeremy seated at the table with Nedley. There were cards laid out on the table between them, and Nicole cleared her throat. The trio looked up, and Jeremy was the first to speak. “Hi, Nicole. What’s up?”

Nicole gestured to the setup. “So what’s this about?”

Surprisingly, it was Dolls that answered. “Sheriff Nedley is attempting to teach me to play poker.”

Nicole couldn’t help but smile. “What?”

“Figured a guy who couldn’t emote might make for an interesting playing experience.” Nedley put two cards down, and Jeremy gave him two back. Nedley looked at them, leaned back into his seat, and said wearily, “Call.”

Dolls looked at his cards, watched Nedley for a second, and then withdrew one. Jeremy gave another, and Dolls nodded his head. He looked at his chips, and then pushed them forward. “All in.”

Nedley looked like he had choked on something. His gaze flicked between the pot and his own cards. “Shit…I fold.” He put his cards down on the table and said, “What do you have?”

Dolls revealed his cards – the ace of spades, the ten of hearts, the six of diamonds, the six of clubs, and the three of hearts. Nedley stared at them in shock, and then said in a low growl. “Two sixes?”

Nicole tried to conceal her smile. “What’d you have, big guy?”

Without speaking, Nedley turned over his discarded hand, and Nicole saw the queens of hearts, spades, and diamonds. Behind them were the two of clubs and the two of spades. “I had a damn full house! How did you beat me with two sixes?”

“Your teaching methods revealed that this was a game of psychology rather than skill. I simply altered my behavior to affect your belief system.”

“It’s not against the rules,” Jermey put in. “Getting upset won’t do anything.”

“Well, except wreck your buddy there,” Nicole added.

All three players looked at her. “Explanation,” requested Dolls.

“Oh, you do not want to piss this guy off,” Nicole said confidently. “He won the ultimate robot fighting championship on his home planet five years straight. If he wanted, he could punch your head off before you could start processing a plan of attack.”

Jeremy and Dolls both looked at Nedley with a new respect. “You’re that strong?”

Nedley glanced over at Nicole, who just shrugged slightly and moved to the coffeemaker. Nedley leaned back and whispered, “Yup. Retired, but still dangerous under the right circumstances.”

Jeremy made a sound somewhere between admiration and fear. “Okay….good advice. Thanks, Nicole. Say thanks to Nicole, Dolls.”

Dolls shifted his gaze from the man who had won five straight homemade remote control robot championships as a little boy and was no more capable of decapitating a robot than breathing in space to Nicole. “Thanks to Nicole.”

Nicole nodded her appreciation and took a sip of the coffee. “By the way, have you guys seen Wynonna or Doc?”

“They went downstairs a while back,” said Nedley.

“Thanks.” Nicole headed for the stairs leading downward that led to the cargo hold and training room as Jeremy began peppering Nedley with questions about all the robots he’d fought over the years. Tuning him out, Nicole went downstairs and heard the sounds of fighting coming from her right. Sure enough, Wynonna and the _much_ older man were engaging in some one-on-one. The low ceilings prevented any major flips or tosses, but anything else was doable….as evidenced by Wynonna’s sudden side-pull of Dolls that landed him on his stomach. Nicole was impressed and whistled her approval. Wynonna turned around, saw her, and said, “You like that, huh?”

“It was pretty good, especially considering the space.” Nicole looked over at Holliday. “He gonna be all right?”

“Oh, I’ll be fine,” said Holliday. “I’m just gonna give your ship a chance to stop spinning around before I get up.”

“Well, don’t wait too long – we’re gonna be landing in twenty minutes, hopefully.”

Doc sprang up. “Hopefully?”

“Yeah,” said Nicole. “I mean, the nav system is a little glitchy for some reason, but we should still be on track.”

“You don’t say…” Doc said. “I believe I will retire to the bunks. Would one of you ladies retrieve me when we get close?”

“Oh, of course, master,” Wynonna said sarcastically. “And would you prefer bacon or sausage with your eggs when you awaken?” Doc ignored this and wandered over to the lift, riding it up to the next level. Wynonna shrugged and turned to Nicole, “So what’s your deal?”

“My deal?”

“Yeah. That’s definitely a jacket from some flight school, and yet here you are, running jobs for the highest bidder. Not exactly what they trained you for.”

“No…” Nicole thought about it for a moment. “Well, you told me yours…you’re right. I did go to flight school. Passed with honors, got assigned to a base, the whole deal.”

“Knew it,” Wynonna said confidently.

“Right….anyway, the base I get assigned to has this real hard-ass for a CO. He insists that for the first six months I won’t go anywhere near a fighter and that I’ll instead be doing guard duty and base maintenance. Personally, I think he was just affronted that an actual woman had the gall to show up at his base, but I didn’t care about him.”

“You want me to kill him?”

Nicole laughed at the casual offer. “I’ll get back to you. So one night, I’m making my rounds and I hear the sound of a fight coming from the cells. I draw my stun baton, rush in, and see three guards beating up this old man. Maybe he could have taken one or two of them if they were unarmed, but three? With pistols and sticks and who knows what else? No way.

“I called out to the biggest of them and ordered them to stand down. They said that I should just walk away or they’d put me on the floor too…only with me, they’d be _nice_.” Nicole rolled her eyes. “I warned them again, and two of them started laughing. I pulled my cuffs and went to secure them when the third guy rushed me. Before I could get my gun up, he was kicking _me_. I tried to hit him with my baton, but he just batted it away. A few more kicks landed and the others were standing over me grinning when one of them fell next to me, the baton sticking out of his head. I don’t know if a kill mode had been activated on it or not, but the shape of his head made that difference moot. The other two turned around just in time for the old man to drive the sidekick to the ground and bury him under a flood of punches. As the ringleader ran forward to pull the prisoner off, I grabbed my gun from it’s holster and fired, hitting the prick square in the back. The man I’d saved…the man who saved _me_….looked over at me and said—”

“I said that we needed a ride out of here and which way to the airstrip,” Nedley said from the stairs. Both women looked over and saw the aged man watching them. He looked at Nicole and said, “We’re ten minutes out.” Nicole nodded and Nedley went back to the cockpit. Wynonna stared after him with her mouth open and said, “_That_ guy?”

Nicole smiled affectionately. “Yeah, that guy. We picked ourselves up, got to the airfield, and stole the first ship we could get into, and the three of us have been taking care of each other ever since.” Noticing Wynonna’s look, she added, “Not like _that_.”

“Oh, okay.” Wynonna was silent for exactly five seconds and then said, “Never?”

“_No_. Trust me, sex with Nedley – or any man, for that matter – is so far down the line of things I’m interested in that it may as well be in another galaxy.”

“Got it,” Wynonna said. Another five seconds passed, and she said, “Now, when you say ‘man’—”

A beeping sounded throughout the ship. “Oh, thank god, we’re five minutes away. Let’s get upstairs.”

Del Rey watched “mother” pace back and forth. He recognized the feeling in her walk – anticipation, eagerness, desire….all things that any soldier felt before a fight. The difference, though, was that for all their power, they still had nothing to hit. It was no use wearing yourself out before a fight had even begun, and even less useful when the fight itself was not a surety.

Clootie stopped pacing and noticed Del Rey watching her. The crazed shark disappeared from her face and became the cool predator once again. “Something you care to say, old friend?”

“Not at all, Constance. I’m just waiting for the reports to arrive, same as you.” The door to the conference room beeped once, and the flight controller’s assistant presented himself. Clootie stopped pacing and faced him. “Well?”

“The planet has been entirely destroyed. No trace of it remains habitable, and no ships were spotted leaving the planet. The extermination of Alderaan was a success.”

“Good!” said Clootie. “And…..”

The officer hesitated. “We…we have received preliminary reports from the ships sent to investigate Dharau. They did find a rebel base, but they estimate that it has been empty for some time.”

Clootie’s brow twitched. “How long?”

The officer consulted a datapad. “Approximately six mo—” He never got the word out as Clootie grabbed the datapad and bashed it into his skull with a scream born of pure fury. The dazed officer tried to run, but Clootie gr d him and pounded him with the datapad again and again, not even bothering to aim but simply lashing out. The datapad broke in two after a minute of this abuse, and without pausing Clootie turned it around and drove it into the officer’s throat.

Del Rey laughed. “Excellent display of leadership, Constance.”

Clootie turned her furious gaze on him. “She lied. She lied to us.” She marched slowly closer to Del Rey. “That little whore stood right there, in the middle of that bridge, with her whole planet in our sights, and _lied!_”

“You sound impressed,” observed Del Rey. “I did warn you how smart she was.”

“That was not intelligence, _Bobo_,” hissed Clootie, using that hated nickname from his past. “_That_ was the ultimate display of stupidity, because now I longer have a use for her.”

“Meaning what?” he inquired.

“Meaning that the time has come for her to be terminated….immediately.”

Wynonna leaned over the sleeping form of Doc and shook him awake. He grabbed her wrist and held it tight. “You should not attack a man while he’s sleeping,” he said, with almost no trace of tiredness in his voice.

“Well, you should set an alarm clock, then,” Wynonna returned. She stepped back and tossed Doc his hat. He caught it one handed and placed it on his head, pulling it tight. “Wynonna,” he said. “I do apologize. A life such as mine with the things I have done…well, when you start to enter triple digits, sometimes the only place you can remember things is in dreams.”

Wynonna took this in. “Bad things?”

“Mainly, yes.”

Wynonna nodded. “We’re almost there. Come on.” She turned and led the way to the cockpit. “You know, I have bad memoreams, too. If you ever want to talk them out, or just drink them out…”

Doc seemed surprised at the offer. “I…I will consider that. Thank you.”

She nodded and looked him over. _He might be a hundred, but it wouldn’t be the weirdest hookup I’ve done…top five, maybe_. Smiling to herself, she entered the cockpit and saw Nicole and Nedley already at the controls. “We there yet?”

“Almost, said Nicole. “See that blue switch behind you? Middle row, second column?”

Wynonna looked. “Yeah, what about it?”

“Hit it, would you?”

Wynonna did, and instantly a blast of cool air began flowing through the cockpit. Wynonna had to grin. “I didn’t think these came with air conditioning.”

“Technically, they do, but it’s only for the computers. I may have…altered that somewhat.”

“Naughty Haughty,” Wynonna teased as she strapped herself in to a nearby bucket seat, though inwardly she was basking in the sudden coolness.

“Here we go,” said Nicole. “Cutting the sublights in three….” Nicole unlocked the hyperdrive controls. “Two…” Her and Nedley raised their hands to the controls. “One…_mark_.”

The _Stetson _dropped back into real space with the traditional sudden jolt of dropping from speeds in the trillions of miles per hour range to a relatively more sedate fifty thousand or so. Wynonna, thankful that she had heeded the seatbelt warning this time, looked around and said, “Okay, so which way?”

Nicole looked at the radar. “Still no beacon…Nedley, do we have coordinates?”

Checking a screen next to him, Nedley said, “For us, sure, but for the planet—”

_KERCHUNK!_

The four humans looked out the windows on high alert. Doc spoke first. “What the hell was that?”

“I don’t know,” said Nicole. “It—”

She was cut off by two more impacts. “Activating radar,” she said. The holodar in the middle of the room sprang to life, displaying dozens of white spots all around them. “Dammit!” screamed Nicole.

“What’s wrong?” said Wynonna.

“Those white spots are unidentified objects, usually rock or untagged cargo. Means we came out of lightspeed and landed right in the middle of an asteroid field.”

“But you can navigate through it, yes?” said Doc.

“Yeah, it’s just gonna be a little more difficult getting there, especially without a signal from the…” Nicole’s voice trailed off and she stared out the window at something in front of her.

“Haught, you okay? What’s—”

“Wynonna…” said Doc, pointing forward. Wynonna looked and gasped. In front of them was a collection of giant rocks drifting relatively near each other. Around it were millions upon millions of smaller objects which Wynonna couldn’t see clearly and didn’t really want to. Swallowing hard, she asked, “Where’s Alderaan?”

Nedley checked his screens. “According to our position….right there.”

“But….but that’s impossible,” said Nicole. “The planet was _young_, it was strong….and even if it did break up, it would take a lot longer than a day to do it in.”

Doc looked at the rest. “Unless it was Clootie, somehow.”

The group stared out the window in shock. None of them could believe what they were seeing. The only one who came close was Doc, and even he had trouble conceiving of the type of power Clootie must be capable of wielding to do something like this, despite the life-prolonging chip inside his body.

Nedley was equally shook; in his time as a sheriff, he had stopped all manner of criminals. After the dissolution of his job and his subsequent imprisonment, he had experienced some of these monsters on a much more personal level. Despite that, he thought that even the worst of the serial killing kidnapper rapists he had confronted in one way or another would pause at this level of destruction.

Wynonna had no idea what to think. Less than a week ago, she had been convinced that her life was going to be spent entirely in Purgatory. Then, in the past day, she’d discovered that not only was her mother alive, but she also had a sister waiting for her that needed saving. Suddenly, though, saving Waverly looked a lot less important compared to what was apparently hiding in the shadows and waiting to come out into the galaxy.

Nicole was torn between panic points. If the church had a weapon like this, than the entire galaxy had just become a giant target, and nowhere was safe. If they didn’t find a place to land and contact Bunny within a day, her life would be forfeit. And if whatever did this was still lurking around somewhere….“We need to get out of here.”

“And go _where?_” asked Wynonna.

“I don’t know! But this system is totally dead. There’s—” A sudden blip on the holodar interrupted her. Everyone stared at it. “—a ship,” finished Nicole.

“Survivors?” asked Nedley.

“Dunno. Maybe—” The ship overshot them, and Nicole recognized the old trusty design of a BEE Fighter, it’s chunky midsection and elevated bioorganic engines giving it away. Nicole had never trusted the design itself, due to the rumors that the ships were powered by either the pilot’s heartbeat or by blood – both seemed likely. Back in the moment, Wynonna shouted, “Fighter!”

“Yeah, I’m on him,” Nicole said, altering the ship’s path to follow their soon-to-be-dead friend.

Behind her, Doc mused, “A fighter that size shouldn’t have a hyperdrive. He can’t be out here alone. Doesn’t make sense.”

“You wanna name me something that _has_ made sense since we got here?” Nicole said.

Nedley interrupted. “Got him locked. Looks like he’s heading for the opposite side of the planet.”

Wynonna perked up. “Well, that must be it, then. Some church ship out here surveying the damage.”

“Doesn’t matter,” said Nicole. “I’ve almost got a lock.”

“I think I see the ship,” said Nedley.

“Where?” asked Doc.

“That tower-looking thing just ahead. It…”

Nedley trailed off as they realized what they were approaching. What from a distance seemed a mere speck was rapidly growing in size. It was a massive building, just floating in space. Church ships surrounded it at various points, but they were like insects next to a giant. Whatever behemoth they were approaching, they knew without a doubt that this was what had killed Alderaan.

Reaching for Nicole, Wynonna said, “Turn the ship around.”

“Yeah…right. Nedley, full rotational reverse now, we gotta move.”

“Right,” grunted Nedley. He threw a switch, and…

“It’s still getting bigger,” said Wynonna. “Why is it still getting bigger?”

Nicole pulled at her stick. “Nedley, full reverse, now!”

“I hit that!” Nedley roared back. “Twice! It’s not working!”

“Tractor beam,” said Doc.

The others quieted, realizing he was right. Nicole took her hands off the stick and watched in front of her as the ship slowly moved towards an open bay about two-thirds of the way up the tower.

“Okay,” said Nicole. She ran out of the cockpit and headed for the stairs. “You remember those empty compartments up top?”

“Let me guess,” said Doc. “Armory?”

“Among other things,” said Nicole. “There’s a few secret rooms in here with surprise goodies for the right customer.” Nicole touched a sensor between the kitchen and the rest area, and the floor rose up with a selection of blaster rifles and pistols that set Wynonna’s mind dancing.

“Captain Haught,” said Doc. “Do you intend to go down shooting?”

“I intend to live for as long as possible, Doc. You don’t?”

“I do, which is why I think there may be a slightly smarter play here.”

Nicole stared at her arsenal, then looked at Doc. “And what play is that?”

Doc smiled, “Are any of these secret compartments empty?”

Nicole stared, realized, grinned. “Maybe…”

“Excellent. Which ones?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, this was a tough one to write. I actually thought about splitting it into two chapters just because of the length, but in the end decided it flowed better as one. 
> 
> Some of the inspiration for what happens to Alderaan came from the video of GameTheory on the destruction of Azeroth. Thanks to Austin Hourigan (@arhourigan) for that one, and check out the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_wwV4ww3dA
> 
> Also, I ended up doing a ton of research into lightspeed for some reason just to figure out how long it would take to get to Alderaan from Purgatory/Tatooine. Didn't have an in-universe distance, so I ended up estimating lightspeed to mean one light-year per hour, which works out to 670,616,629 miles per hour. There was a lot more math that....really gave me a headache, but eventually I came up with some numbers that work in the story and it's all fiction anyway, so why worry about being super scientifically accurate. It's not like it appeared as much as I was planning.
> 
> Also also, with Nedley's hand, I thought it would be fun to reference the three women who will soon be running his life (more or less). In my mind, Waverly is the heart, Nicole is the diamond, and Wynonna is the spade. Disagree? Feel that one of them would be something else? Leave it in the comments!
> 
> Finally, it may have been noticed that I changed planet names for Leia's/Waverly's lie. I was checking things and on a hunch saw that some names of planets in Star Wars were words in foreign languages, so I pulled the same trick. In this case, 'dharau' is Swahili for 'decoy'. I'll be doing this again later where possible (spoiler?)
> 
> Next week, the rescue of Princess Waverly "Burn Queen" Gibson commences!


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The team infiltrates the God's Tower; Del Rey begins to grow suspicious

A chime emitted from the speaker in the center of the conference room, where Clootie and Del Rey were discussing the princess’s execution. While Clootie wanted it done as soon as possible, Del Rey had the unusual opportunity to present the option of waiting. “Without the plans or the droids,” he was saying, “we have no lead on where the rebels are hiding.”

“Hiding is all they do, Robert,” declared Clootie. “And once word of what we’ve done here spreads, they’ll be too scared to come out of their holes.”

“And what if you’re wrong, hm? What if instead of fear, they grow even more emboldened?”

“Then they will fly right at us like the pests they are and we will swat them even easier.” The comm chimed again, and Clootie stabbed the receive button. “Yes?”

“We’ve picked up a freighter found entering the system,” said the voice on the other end. “It’s numbers and description match those of a ship carrying several fugitives that recently blasted its way out of Purgatory.”

Del Rey’s head whipped around. “Purgatory,” he said. “That’s where the plans were dropped.”

“I thought you had men searching for those.”

“So did I.” Del Rey rubbed his beard. “I may need to check their status and see if they’re still there.”

“Before you do, get to the flight deck and see who our guests are. It’s probable that they are allies of our esteemed prisoner.”

“If they are, it seems like it’d be easier to catch them with live bait, wouldn’t it?”

Clootie waved her hand dismissively, and Del Rey went. He was confident that she wouldn’t kill the princess – not after this new turn of events. A ship from Purgatory arriving now, so soon after the plans had been lost there? It was much too big a coincidence.

Arriving in the hangar, Del Rey was pleased at the soldiers’ efficiency. A full squadron of forty troopers stood ready and waiting for whatever might happen. At the base of the ship, Del Rey met the lieutenant in charge. “Did you find any droids?”

“No, sir. No life forms, mechanical or otherwise, were found aboard the vessel. We were able to determine that several escape pods have been jettisoned. Our fighters are out hunting them down as we speak.”

“Good. Search the entire…” A familiar odor suddenly entered the air. Del Rey took a deeper whiff – cigarettes, desperation, sweat, and alcohol. Could it…

“Sir?” asked the lieutenant.

“Something in the air,” said Del Rey. “Some scent that I…” Del Rey turned away and quickly marched for the nearest security room, now more determined than ever to contact his men on Purgatory and to analyze every exit made from the hangar in the past half-hour. If that scent was genuine, then that meant the esteemed Doc Holliday had come out of hiding, and whether his goal was to save the princess or confront him, Del Rey intended to make sure that he failed in that mission.

Inside the _Stetson_, three pairs of troopers carefully inspected each deck for any sign of its crew or passengers. On the third deck, one trooper said to his partner, “This is ridiculous. The ship is obviously empty.”

His partner was inclined to agree. “What about that area?”

The first trooper followed his comrade’s gaze. “Totally locked down. Looks like no one has been able to get in there for a while.”

The second inspected the burnt-out locking mechanism. “Yeah, they definitely couldn’t get through this without making a ton of noise.” He hefted his rifle and said, “Come on. Let’s report back.”

“Wait a second.” The first trooper raised his gun and approached the cockpit maintenance area. “Thought I heard something…”

The door slid open. Inside, massive computer towers beeped and blinked, keeping the ship running at an optimal capacity. He crept between each unit, searching carefully…

His partner grew impatient. “You see anything?”

Reaching the end of the room, the trooper shook his head. “Nothing.”

“Then let’s go. It’s almost shift change, and I want to get out of this armor before the helmet starts sticking to my head.”

The trooper rose and left the computer banks alone. A minute passed, then two. A squeal of groaning metal sounded from one of the towers as its side lifted upward. Nicole’s head poked out of it and she looked around. “All clear.”

Throughout the room, doors on empty computer towers started lifting as Doc, Wynonna, Dolls, Jeremy, and Nedley came out of their hiding places. Wynonna clapped her hand on hers. “Decoy towers…clever.”

“Like I said, there’s plenty of extra storage in here for smaller items and packages. The big orders have to stay in crates in the main hold, of course, but these can hold a few things.” She chuckled. “’Course, I never thought they’d be holding me.”

“We’re still alive and free,” said Doc. “That’s what matters most now.”

“Yeah, but for how long?” said Nicole. “We could take off right now, but that tractor beam would nab us and bring us back in an instant.”

“I’ll worry about that. You ladies just keep our ride safe.”

“She’s not just your ride, Holliday,” said Nedley. “She’s our _home_, and that home is currently in the worst hands possible.”

“Shh!” Nicole whispered and drew her gun. “There could be more. Let’s move.”

The group crept out of the room, weapons drawn. They made their way over to the central stairs leading to the kitchen and cargo area. Nicole paused. “I’ll take point. Nedley, you’re west. Wynonna, east. Doc, cover us best you can. Dolls and Jeremy, just….stay up here until we call.”

Everyone nodded and Nicole readied her weapon. She raised it to shoulder height and started down the stairs, moving slowly, checking every—

A laser powered up in front of her. Nicole saw two agents carrying a large box at the bottom of the steps. The armed agent gestured with his gun for her to come down and drop her weapon. Nicole nodded and lowered her gun. The agent smiled and beckoned her forward. Nicole smiled back, dropped the gun, and kicked it squarely at the agent. As he ducked, he lost his grip on the box, knocking his partner off balance. Nicole ran for the unarmed one and tackled him just as he was drawing his weapon. She heard a blaster sound from the stairs as someone took care of number one. Number two flipped her over and started to choke her when two pistols appeared behind his head.

“Let her go,” said Wynonna. The agent eased off the pressured and stood up. “There any more of you assholes outside?”

“Two guards, at the ramp. More than enough to deal with you.”

“Some other night, maybe,” said Nedley, swinging his massive fist into the agent’s jaw. The man fell over unconscious. He looked at Nicole. “Two guards. Shall we say hi?”

“It’d be rude not to.” She followed Nedley down to the boarding ramp and gave him a nod. “Guards!” he shouted. “We’ve got someone up here! Get in here, now!” The two guards charged up the ramp, rifles sweeping the area. “Call out targets!” said one.

“Tiny and Tim,” said Nedley, and he and Nicole shot both guards in the chest at full power, killing them instantly. “Clear!” he shouted up. The rest of the team came down.

Wynonna looked at the bodies. “Okay….now what?”

“Now you help me get their clothes off,” said Nicole. “If we’re gonna take care of this tractor beam, we need to play a little dress-up first.”

“Okay…” said Wynonna slowly. The four humans set to removing the armor from the guards, and after several minutes, the two guards were stripped to their drawers. “So what's part two of this plan?"

Nicole tossed Wynonna a helmet off one of the troopers and started assembling the armor over her clothes. “Well, they were looking for any signs of survivors, right?” She grinned at Nedley and Doc. “You boys mind playing prisoner for a bit?”

“Define a bit,” grumbled Nedley.

“Long enough for me to figure out where that tractor beam is and shut it down,” said Doc.

“_IDW-73, why aren’t you at your post?_”

Wynonna dropped the helmet she was holding, and Doc nimbly caught it just before it hit the ground. The voice spoke again. “_IDW-73, do you copy?”_

“Answer it!” Nicole whispered.

“Maybe without the accent,” put in Nedley.

Doc nodded. “Yes sir,” he said, managing to drop his drawl. “We’ve found two men and a pair of droids aboard the vessel. Bringing them to you now.”

The voice was silent for a moment. “_Roger. Standing by._” Doc tossed the helmet back to Nicole. “Guess they’ll be expecting us, now.”

“Good. Time to suit up, Wynonna.”

“This is never gonna work,” Wynonna grumbled, trying to get comfortable in one of the two sets of armor. By the time she finished, Nicole had already donned her own helmet to complete the look. “You don’t have some rope or something to tie my hair back, do you?”

“Just tuck it up inside the helmet,” Nicole said. “Unless you want me to give you a haircut.”

“Nope, not happening.” Making the best bun she could, Wynonna threw the helmet on. It was a tight fit, but mostly okay. She looked over the group. “So, where we going?”

“This way,” said Dolls. He stepped in front of them and began marching forward. Wynonna moved to catch up, stolen rifle in hand and Peacekeeper strapped to her right leg. Jeremy took a position behind them, followed by Doc and Nedley, with Nicole bringing up the rear. After a brief walk up two flights of steps, they came to a door. “The transmission came from here,” he said.

“Got it.” Wynonna hefted her gun. “Let’s do—”

The door slid open and an officer stood in front of her. A chill ran through Wynonna’s bones as she recognized the man in front of her…the fourth revenant from that night she’d encountered. He stood there impassively, surveying them all. “Are these the prisoners?”

Words clogged in Wynonna’s throat, but behind her, she heard Doc say, “Hamilton…”

Hamilton pushed Wynonna to the side and said, “John Henry…” He sniffed the air in front of Doc’s face. “Such delicious guilt. Where have you been hiding?”

“What, they turn you into a human lie detector or something, Auggie?”

“Or something, yes.” The revenant laughed mirthlessly. “Have you come to see about a last confession before dying?”

That did it. Wynonna grabbed Hamilton by the back of the neck and threw him back into the room, where a startled technician drew his gun and was promptly dispatched by a shot from Nicole. A second tech went for an alarm, but both the alarm and the tech were eliminated by shots from Doc.

Hamilton surveyed the damage and grinned. “You are no trooper,” he said. Focusing his gaze on Wynonna, he asked in a voice that cut to her soul, “_Confess your identity._”

Her body acting on it’s own, Wynonna removed her helmet and heard herself say, “Wynonna Earp,” Someone was shouting her name in the distance, but it was all so…._false_.

“_Are you here to kill me?_”

Wynonna struggled to stay quiet. “No…I am here…”

“_Confess…_”

A shot fired from behind Wynonna and hit Hamilton in the side of the head. He grabbed his ear and screamed. Wynonna felt herself returning and quickly drew Peacemaker. Hamilton was still too close for a clean shot, so she slammed it into his skull and then threw him into a nearby bank of monitors. Hamilton went sprawling, and when he came up some substance was dripping from his head as his body struggled to close the wound. She raised Peacemaker and said, “Your turn, revenant. You killed my father, right?”

Hamilton glared at her. “Yes.”

“How many were there that night? How many did it take?”

“Seven…”

“You know what that means?” Wynonna pressed Peacemaker against the scar in Hamilton’s head. “It means the other three will know…make sure you get everybody.”

“You’ve already lost. Clootie and Del Rey have seen to it.”

“Not your problem. Oh, and to answer your last question, I’m not here to kill you, revenant. I’m here to kill _all_ of you. Make your peace.” The gun clicked over, and Wynonna pulled the trigger, erasing one more revenant from the galaxy. Nicole approached the melting remains. “Okay, that is a powerful gun.”

“Make out with it later, Haught. We need to keep moving.”

“Yeah, security probably heard all of that,” Nicole agreed. “Jeremy!” The cyborg looked up. “See if you can find a working computer. Maybe there’s a map or something.”

“On it,” said Jeremy. He went over to the main bank. “Okay, the monitors are pretty shot up, but still functioning. Patching in to their network…” Jeremy’s fingers moved inhumanly fast across the keys, and Nicole leaned next to Wynonna and whispered, “Where did you say you found these guys?”

“Back of a used parts store,” Wynonna replied. Before Nicole could ask for an explanation, Jeremy beeped. “Okay!” he said proudly, as a map of the station appeared on a cracked monitor in front of them. “I’ve got bad news, good news, great news, and horrible news. The bad news—”

“Hang on,” said Nedley. “Aren’t you gonna ask us what we want first?”

Jeremy looked around at them. “Did…did you want me to?”

Nicole groaned. “Jeremy, just tell us.”

“Okay, the bad news is that the tractor beam is hooked up to the main power conduit for the base and has seven different breakers controlling it.”

“Seriously?” said Wynonna

Jeremy held up a finger. “The good news, though…” He tapped a key and an image on the map zoomed in. “…is that it needs so much power to operate that flipping even one of those breakers should take it offline long enough for us to escape.”

“Where’s the closest?” said Doc.

“Right…” Jeremy tapped some more keys and a route appeared on the map. “There.”

Doc studied the route, then nodded. “Got it.”

“Okay. The great news is that I found the princess—”

“Waverly?” said Wynonna. “She’s here?”

“Who’s Waverly?” asked Nicole.

“She owns the droids; that was her planet that got blown up out there.” Wynonna turned back to Jeremy. “Where is she?”

“Ummm…”

Wynonna leaned close to Jeremy. “Jeremy…where. Is. She.”

Jeremy swallowed nervously and turned back to the monitors. “She’s in detention block AA-23, on level 5...and she’s scheduled for termination tomorrow morning.”

“_Termination?_”

“Guess you got your destination, then,” said Doc. Wynonna turned and saw that he was heading out the door.

“Hey!” she shouted, running after him. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

“Taking care of that tractor beam, and it’s a one-man job, I’m afraid.”

“No, no way…” said Wynonna. “We’re a team, we watch each other’s backs.”

“I think this job will be more about stealth than teamwork….and besides, you got another teammate that needs rescuing, don’t you?” Wynonna tried to refute this, but Doc just smiled at her and said, “Hey, don’t worry about me. I been looking for redemption for a while. I take out that beam and let you escape…I’d say that counts towards it.”

There were a thousand things Wynonna wanted to say and ask, but all that came out was, “Don’t die, okay? I….we need you.”

“Never planned to, love. That’s what got me here in the first place.” He held her cheek a moment, and then was gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just pointing out this chapter's callout of me switching that stormtrooper's callsign (the one that Luke is impersonating in the movie) from TK-421 to IDW-73. For the uninitiated, IDW is the company that produces Wynonna Earp and publishes the corresponding comic.


	15. Chapter 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Del Rey prepares to face someone from the past; Waverly gets a surprise; the team's plans go awry

In his exclusive chambers, Robert Del Rey was dangerously close to tearing the walls of the entire station apart. His initial attempts to contact Jack and Malcolm had gone unanswered, and when he activated the locator signals for their chips, the computer returned only a single word: inoperable.

_Those chips are made of the strongest materials in the galaxy. NOTHING should be able to destroy them._

Del Rey pushed back from the computer. If the chips were inoperable, then that effectively meant Jack and Malcolm were dead. The last time one of them had been eliminated had been…

_No…_

Hoping he was for once wrong, Del Rey switched over to archives and brought up the data on Red, who had been a capable tool until he had met his end….on Purgatory.

Purgatory. Again.

“_NO!_” Del Rey screamed in frustration. If the last time that damnable gun had been used was on Purgatory, where three of his soldiers had now been killed, then that meant another Earp had found it and activated it. If a ship containing fugitives that had left Purgatory had suddenly arrived here on Alderaan, then it was a safe bet that ship contained both droids and gun. And if one of those fugitives was an Earp, then it was a near certainty that there was a Holliday close by.

The computer chimed, and Del Rey looked at the alert, which said that another of his revenant brothers – Hamilton, now – had gone offline. Del Rey screamed again and all but ran out of the room. His guards ran to keep pace, but he didn’t care. He steamed forward, not waiting for any to get out of his way, tossing aside those stupid enough or unlucky enough to not notice him. He only stopped when he reached Clootie’s private chamber. Moving to open the door, he was momentarily stymied to find it locked. Whether Clootie was entertaining someone or being entertained in return, he had no time to waste. Gripping the door, he forced it up and open until he could enter the room.

Inside, Clootie looked up from her desk. She seemed only mildly put out by his entrance. “Is there something you care to discuss, Robert?”

“He’s here.”

“Forgive me if I don’t want to waste time playing the pronoun game, Robert.” She turned back to whatever she had been looking at, and Del Rey roared and threw a nearby chair against the wall next to her.

“John Goddamned Henry Holliday. He’s alive—”

“Unsurprising.”

“—and he’s _here_.”

Clootie sighed and gave him her full attention. “What makes you so sure?”

“Jack and Malcolm are offline. They were on Purgatory, where the droids were last seen, and where the gun was last used, _and_ where that ship came from.”

“Yes, the gun…that was used by an Earp…who we killed.”

Del Rey persisted. “Hamilton just went off, too. The only thing that could do that is that damn gun. The only man who would know what that gun does is the one who stole it. I’m telling you, he’s here, and he’s not alone.”

“Meaning he has another Earp with him?” Clootie laughed. “That family is extinct, dear boy, and as far as our operations are concerned, Holliday is extinct with them.” A communication sounded, and Clootie hit the transmit button. “Yes?”

“Ma’am, the team in hanger 19 has stopped responding. Also, we’ve tracked a request for prisoner information from a computer in that office.”

Clootie’s eyes narrowed. “Which prisoner?”

“Princess Waverly Gibson,” the voice answered.

Del Rey leaned close to Clootie, his suspicions suddenly vindicated. “John Holliday _is _here, Constance….and the gun and another Earp are with him.”

Keeping her face a mask, Clootie replied, “If you’re right…we cannot lose either of them again.”

Del Rey snorted. “Don’t worry about that. I’ve already got three plans in mind.”

“Somehow, I’m not surprised. Go.”

“With pleasure,” he said, and went to work.

Nicole shifted uncomfortably in the cramped lift. “This is a really bad idea.”

“This was _your_ idea!” exclaimed Wynonna

“No, it was my idea when we had twice as many people as we do now and were trying to take over flight control, not an actual damn prison block.”

“Well, why didn’t you say something downstairs?”

“I did! Repeatedly!”

“Will you two pipe down?” said Nedley from in front of them, a pair of binders hanging open on his wrists. “You’re gonna blow the whole plan.”

“See?” said Wynonna. “Nedley likes my plan.”

“Now, hang on,” he started. “I did not—”

The lift stopped. The trio stopped talking and waited for the doors to open. After five seconds, Wynonna whispered. “Shouldn’t they have opened by now?”

Someone cleared their throat behind them. Turning around, Nicole saw an extremely suspicious looking officer glaring at them. Without a word, the group exited the lift and faced the officer. He studied them and then said slowly, “Where are you taking this….prisoner?”

Making her voice as masculine as she could, Nicole answered, “Transfer from cell block 1138.”

His face betraying nothing, the officer said coolly, “I received no such notification. I’ll have to verify it. Wait there.” The officer moved to a station and began punching in codes. “Where did you say he was coming from?”

“Uh…” Wynonna glanced at Nicole. “Cell block…25437Q…Alpha?”

“Alpha?” the officer said. “What does—”

_Hell_, thought Nicole and shoved the rifle into Nedley’s hands. “Look out, he’s loose!” she shouted. Nedley caught the rifle and started laying down covering fire, getting the lead officer first off. Looking around the room, Nicole shouted, “Cameras!”

“On it!” shouted Wynonna. “Think fast!” Wynonna tossed her own rifle at Nicole and took out Peacemaker. Nicole nodded her thanks and fired at a guard that crept out of cover, wounding him in the shoulder. A camera just above him was her next target, and it exploded. The guard rose again to flee the sparks and was met with a headshot by Nedley.

“Incoming!” said Nedley. Another guard was running down the hall from the area of the prison cells. Nicole shifted right and let loose a volley of blasts towards him as two more spark explosions rang out. A voice on the other side of the room said, “Sir, they’ve taken out the cameras!”

Wynonna heard. “Thanks for the update, genius!” and fired Peacemaker. The now-red bolts blazed through the room and struck the desk the guard was hiding behind. Seizing the initiative, the guard rolled out of cover and fired, but his aim was high and bolts from all three cut the guard down.

Nicole removed her helmet and took a breath. “Okay, let’s figure out where this princess of yours is…”

“Any chance we can get those alarms off?”

“One thing at a time.” Nicole pulled up an inmate list and scanned it. “No….no….there she is! Number 9895!” She hit a key, and the hallway in front of them _shifted_. Several halls of cells passed by before they finally stopped. Despite the situation, Nicole was impressed. “Guess that’s one way to lock down an escape route.”

“I’ll go get her! See if you can fix this mess.” Wynonna took off down the corridor. Nicole turned her attention to the console and began tapping keys furiously.

“_AA-23!_” a voice sounded over the radio. “_Report status!_”

Nicole keyed the radio. “AA-23, reporting in. Prisoner attempted to break free, but we have subdued him and are commencing repairs. Zero injuries to report. Over.”

The voice paused, then came back, “_AA-23, recite daily authorization code_.”

“Goddammit…” Nicole grabbed her rifle and shot the radio. “Like you couldn’t have a woman working in here somewhere?” Turning her head, she shouted, “_WYNONNA! We’re gonna have some guests pretty soon!_”

_It should have been me_.

In the dark cell that she knew was going to be the last place she was ever by herself before she died, Princess Waverly Gibson was in mourning – for herself, for her family, for her planet, and for the rebellion. She had taken on too much, stretched herself too thin, thought herself safe….and she had paid the price.

_No, I didn’t pay the price. Everyone else paid it for me._

It was an unbelievable nightmare. Growing up, she had heard stories from her beautiful and loving (if a bit excessive at parties) mother about great heroes who had flown in from out of nowhere and fought off demons, often while battling demons of their own. All she wanted, even as she grew up in the lap of luxury, was to leave it all behind, get out there, and actually _do_ something. Something worthwhile, something with meaning….something that would _help_ people.

When she’d told her father this after her last birthday, she’d expected him to be upset. A well-educated princess who’d never been in a fight that wasn’t carefully choreographed and supported by a multitude of fair play rules? Preposterous. He had surprised, her, though. He told her all about the rebellion and his consistent funding of it, despite the chances of imprisonment and death if it was ever discovered. She had been so shocked and proud that she had wept, and then when he told her about a secret mission to recover plans for a new weapon the church was building – a mission with minimal risk and maximum effect – she had leaped at the chance.

_Except it failed. The weapon is real, the plans are gone, my family is dead, and I’m next._

Perhaps it wasn’t altogether hopeless. She had gotten Dolls off to the last known location of Doc Holliday. Maybe he would find Doc, and Doc would be able to track down the rebellion. If that were to happen, even if she wasn’t alive, at least her spirit would get some measure of—

_BWOOP! BWOOP! BWOOP! _

Waverly sat up and felt the room move beneath her. This was it, then. Clootie must have gotten tired of waiting and was ready to take her. Well, if she was expecting Waverly to just accept her fate, especially now, she was sorely mistaken. The door was too narrow to hide beside, and there were no loose objects in the room. Surprise was her only weapon. sliding onto the cot, Waverly turned towards the wall and curled up, trying to look like someone who was just asleep.

The door slid open, and Waverly heard someone – a trooper, probably, they of the ghost white armor – enter the cell. The trooper paused at the entrance, and Waverly wondered if she had miscalculated and the trooper was simply going to shoot her while she slept. The footsteps resumed, and Waverly tensed. A hand touched Waverly’s shoulder, and a voice said, “Hey, you awake?”

In a flash, Waverly turned over and was wrenching the helmet to the side, cutting off the wearer’s vision. A grunt of surprise came from the trooper, and Waverly was halfway out the cell when she heard the trooper say, “What the _fuck?_” in a decidedly feminine voice.

_Female? But troopers are all…_She slowly turned around and said softly, “Hello?”

“Okay, worst rescue _ever!_” The wearer fought with the sideways helmet and then turned towards the wall. “Hey, you wanna help me out here?”

Waverly slowly approached the trooper, still not sure if this was a trick or not. “Okay, I’m gonna straighten the helmet, and I’d really appreciate it if you didn’t shoot me.”

“Don’t tempt me,” the…woman?...in the armor said. “Careful, my hair’s caught up in there somewhere.”

“Okay,” said Waverly. “Just let me…” Slowly rotating the helmet back to it’s proper position, Waverly heard a few stifled grunts from her would-be rescuer as she moved it. When it was straight, Waverly said, “Okay, I’m gonna lift it up on three. One…” and with that, she quickly pulled the helmet and was rewarded with a scream of surprise from the woman.

The head underneath the helmet was definitely not one belonging to any agent of the chuch. Wild, unkempt hair; eyes filled with equal amounts of rage and worry; and something else, some feeling that whatever this woman held dear would be taken care of, even if she had to sacrifice herself to do it.

Waverly saw the woman studying her, too, and she blushed and looked away. The woman came back to herself and said, “You’re Waverly?”

“Ye-es…” she said. “And you are?”

The woman smiled, and in that smile Waverly saw the protective feeling she’d gotten before and knew without question that she was safe now…or safer. “I’m Wynonna Earp. Happy to finally meet you, sis.”

Waverly blinked. “Did you say Earp?’

Laser fire suddenly started going off in the hallway. “Yeah, and short version – I’m here with Doc Holliday, we got your droids, and we need to get the hell out of here. Let’s go.” With that, Waverly found herself being pulled forward, towards the sound of gunfire.

In the hall, two humans were firing back down towards the control room – a man in an old sheriff’s outfit, and a female trooper with red hair. “They got us cut off!” said the red haired trooper. She turned around and whatever she was going to say seemed to die on her lips as she saw Waverly. “Hi…” said the trooper.

“Hello,” returned Waverly shyly.

Wynonna glanced between the two. “Haught! Stop eye-fucking…Waverly…and shoot, dammit!”

The trooper – _Haught? Okay… – _came back to herself and shot down the hall, where one of her shots was met with a scream. “We’re not getting back through there! Call Jeremy, see if he can help!”

“Wait!” said Waverly. “My Jeremy?”

“Yeah, and Dolls too,” said Wynonna. She fired off a burst from an oversized pistol and pulled out a communicator. “Jeremy! You there, metal-man?”

“_Yeah! Are you guys alright?”_

_“_Very much no! We got the princess, but there’s guards blocking us in! Are there any other exits?”

There was a moment’s pause as people traded fire up and down the corridor. “You know,” said Waverly, “This would be a lot easier if I had a gun, too.”

Haught let off another shot. “You’re not wrong, but what can we do?”

“_Wynonna!_” interrupted Jeremy. “_I checked the maps, but those blocks are designed for one-way access. No other exits!_”

“Shit!” said Wynonna.

“What about that?” said Waverly. She pointed at a nearby grate in the wall.

“Jeremy!” shouted Wynonna. “Grate next to cell…9849! Where’s it go?’

“_Checking….oh. No. You don’t wanna—_”

Waverly grabbed the communicator from Wynonna. “Jeremy! We’re about to be killed here!”

“_Okay, okay! It leads to a trash compactor, but—” _Waverly threw the device back to Wynonna and turned to the sheriff. “Sheriff, I need your rifle, now!”

The man seemed surprised to be addressed by his defunct title, but he complied quickly. “Don’t miss,” he cautioned. Waverly nodded and aimed at the grate, firing off four bursts at each seal holding it on. The cover shifted, and the sheriff pulled it the rest of the way off. Waverly looked at her rescuers and said, “Wait five seconds, then fire everything we got.” She tossed the gun back to the sheriff. “Wish me luck.”

“It’s Nedley,” he said. Waverly smiled up at him, and as soon as he turned back towards the control center and started firing, she ran and leaped into the hole.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Waverly's cell number in this universe is actually her birthday in the main Wynonna universe -- September 8, 1995.
> 
> Also, in case it wasn't clear, my vision for each cell block was that they'd have one control room with halls that shift around depending on where the operator has it set to. Just imagine the prison from the movie "Cube" with rooms that constantly change position and you got it.
> 
> Also, if there's any smart people reading this, they may notice that I took some liberties with what ultraviolet light is capable of. All I can say is.....it's fiction, and these people are fighting computer-powered demons in outer space.


	16. Chapter 16

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In the wake of Waverly's rescue, the group has new challenges to overcome.

As Nicole fired back down the hall, the princess – Waverly – said “Wish me luck”, and then without waiting jumped _into _the chute they had just opened up. Nicole nearly dropped her gun to try and save her, but another volley prevented that. As her and Wynonna ducked into cover, she asked, “Is she crazy?”

Amazingly, Wynonna smiled, and Nicole was sure she saw a little pride in that look. “More than a little, I think. Must get that from mom.”

“Oh, so her mom was crazy too? Great.” Nicole rolled her eyes and turned to Nedley. “Can you hear her down there?”

“Not with all this, but…” Nedley looked at the incoming fire and before Nicole could realize what was happening he had followed her down the pipe.

‘_Nedley!” _she screamed. She looked across the hall at Wynonna. “They’re _both_ crazy!”

“Desperate, not crazy,” corrected Wynonna. “Cover me. I’ll go, then follow me down.”

“_What?” _Before Nicole knew it, Wynonna had charged across the hall and dived headfirst into the entrance, leaving Nicole alone. She fired down the hall. “If you assholes think you can take me, you are _seriously _underestimating the day I’ve had!” A laser whizzed by her head. She looked at the grate, said “Screw it,” and jumped.

She fell for what seemed like both forever and no time at all and landed in a mixture of water and discarded materials and some foul _other_ smell that she never wanted to identify. “Great,” she said.

“At least it’s away from the guards,” said Wynonna.

“Yes,” said Waverly, “except now we’re trapped in here.”

“Wasn’t this your idea in the first place?” quipped Wynonna.

“It’s better than being shot at,” muttered Nicole, lifting herself up off the floor. No one seemed injured apart from a bruise or two, and Wynonna was right – they were definitely alone, at least until the guards could get some rappelling equipment. ”Look, let’s just find the door and get it open before anything else goes wrong.”

“Over here,” said Nedley. “Doesn’t look like there’s a handle on this side…”

“Yeah, in case the garbage wants to go get lunch or see a movie or something.” Wynonna rolled her eyes and aimed Peacemaker at the door. “Make your peace, door.”

“No, wait—” cried Nedley, but Wynonna was already firing. Nicole grabbed Waverly and shielded her with her body as the superheated blue bolt struck the door and proceeded to bounce around the room before finally striking something in a pile on the far side. Nedley pulled himself out of a pile and screamed, “What the _hell_ is wrong with you?” He stalked over to Wynonna and grabbed Peacemaker. “Have you _EVER _fired a gun in an enclosed environment before? Or even just anywhere that isn’t a firing range?”

Wynonna was wide-eyed and looked as though she’d interrupted the most prestigious event ever by setting off fireworks in the middle of the room. “Well—”

“I thought not. That door has dual-magnetic shielding on it, so any energy weapon fired at it – hell, any weapon, _period _– will just spit back whatever it receives.” He glared at her fiercely. “So can you maybe try to be a _little_ more careful when firing that thing?”

Wynonna just nodded. Nedley let out a breath. “Good,” he said, and held out Peacemaker. “Now, how else can we open that door?”

“Maybe the droids?” said a voice from beneath Nicole. They all turned to look at Waverly, who said, “If Jeremy has access to the network, he can probably override the locks from where he is.”

“That’s a good idea,” said Nicole. “How about it, Earp?”

“Yeah, I’ll call him,” said Wynonna, taking back Peacemaker. She took the gun from Nedley and pulled out the communicator. “Jeremy, come in.”

As Wynonna tried to contact their cyborg, Nicole turned and helped Waverly up. “Sorry about all this,” she offered. “Probably not the rescue you were expecting.”

“No, it isn’t,” said Waverly primly. Nicole started to apologize again, and then Waverly added, “I mean, it isn’t what I was expecting because I wasn’t expecting any rescue.”

“Oh!” said Nicole. “Well, in that case, I’m – I mean, we’re happy to disappoint you.” Waverly laughed at Nicole’s bad joke, and it was everything Nicole could do not to stare. Despite being shot at and landing in garbage water after a fall of at least twenty feet, Waverly still looked beautiful. _How is that even possible?_ Waverly stopped laughing and looked at Nicole, who quickly looked away. Confused, Waverly said, “What is it?”

“Hm? Oh, nothing.”

“Is there something on my face?” Waverly bent over, trying to get a reflection out of the garbage water.

Taking pity on the princess, Nicole said, “Come here.” Waverly faced her again, and Nicole licked her thumb and smoothed a few strands of hair back on Waverly’s head. “Is it gone?”

Hearing a snort from behind her, Nicole made a show of looking over Waverly's face. “It’s as good as I can make it.”

“Great! Thanks!” she said, and suddenly Nicole found herself in the midst of a hug. Not sure what to do, Nicole awkwardly hugged her back and caught a glimpse of Nedley smiling back laughter. She shot him a look that said “Shut up” just as Waverly released her. “Wynonna!” she called. “Any luck getting through?”

“Nothing,” said Wynonna disgustedly. “I don’t know, maybe the walls are too thick for a signal to get through.”

“Unless they’ve been captured,” put in Nedley.

“No way,” said Waverly. “Dolls is too well-equipped for that to happen.”

“So where are they?” asked Nicole.

“How do I look?” asked Jeremy. He stepped out from behind the desk, now dressed in the uniform of one of the dead guards. The man had looked to be about his size, and while the outfit was a bit snug in the crotch, overall it was a decent fit and should provide a cover in case any more guards came knocking.

Standing by the door, Dolls scanned him up and down. “The waistline is insufficient by a degree of eleven percent.”

Jeremy rolled his eyes. “Yeah, it’s a bit snug, but how do I _look?_”

“Your communicator is active.”

“Huh?” Jeremy looked at the desk where he’d left his two-way and saw it was indeed blinking. “Shit!” Jeremy picked it up and thumbed the transmit button. “Hello? Guys? What’s happening?”

“_Where the hell have you been, Jerkemy?_” screamed Wynonna. “_I’ve been calling you for five fricking minutes!_”

“Sorry!” he said. “The..battery was low. I was letting it charge.”

**Really?**, Jeremy heard Dolls saying in his head. Before Jeremy could formulate a reply, Wynonna was back. “_Whatever. Look, we’re stuck in a trash compactor. No one’s hurt, but we need you to override the door._”

“Yeah, can do.” He sat back at the desk and started typing. “What’s the door number?”

“_You don’t remember where we went in? Just use that!_”

“Can’t. It’s a different file path. I need the door.”

“_Goddammit…”_ There was the sound of objects being moved around as the team looked for the right identifier. Nicole’s voice came on, saying, “_Okay, Jeremy? I think we got it. It’s A-O-3-2-9-1-8-7._”

“Okay, got it….verifying location…level 5….okay, we’re good!” Jeremy said proudly. Jeremy scrolled through the options presented, and saw one saying, “access”. Clicking on it, Jeremy saw a single word box that read “ACTIVATE? Y / N”

“Too simple,” said Jeremy. He clicked Y. “Okay, all set! Get outta—”

“_WHAT THE HELL, DUDE! ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL US?”_

_Okay, that’s weird. _“Guys? What’s—”

“_You activated the fricking_ compactor_, genius! Turn it off!”_

“I did?” _Oops…_

“_Yes, you dummy! Stop it, before you kill us!”_

“Okay! Okay!” Jeremy went back through the options. “Uhh…it won’t let me.”

“_WHAT?!_”

“It has to finish a cycle before being shut down! I can’t…wait..” Wynonna screamed something else at him, but Jeremy was focused. His fingers danced back to the initial menu and went through all the options. _No…no…yes!_ There, on the very first menu: “egress”; latin for “exit”. Jeremy clicked on it and again saw the activation prompt. He stabbed Y, and…

The communicator was silent, and then it was filled with loud screams. “Ohhhh, no oh no oh no oh no oh no.” Jeremy activated the device and said, “Guys, I’m sorry! I’m so sorry! I know there isn’t technically anything after, but please don’t—”

“_We’re fine!_” came Nicole’s voice.

Jeremy blinked and stared at Dolls for a second, hardly daring to hope. “You are?”

Now Waverly’s voice came on the line. “_Yes, Jeremy, we’re fine. Great idea, opening the outer hatch and triggering the safety. We’re all okay._”

“Thanks, princess,” he said, sighing with relief. “It’s good to hear your voice again.”

“_Yours, too_,” she said. “_Are you and Dolls safe?_”

“For now.” Jeremy looked at Dolls, who nodded once. _Whatever that means_…

“_Jeremy, it’s Nicole again. Is there any word from Doc? Is that tractor beam still active?”_

Jeremy glanced at a different monitor. “Looks like, yeah. I’m gonna try and find him, see if I can figure out a way to let him know what’s up. Just get back here quick, okay?”

“_Roger_,” returned Nicole. Switching cameras onscreen, Jeremy activated every camera along the path Doc would have had to take to get to the breaker…and didn’t see him anywhere. “Where is he?”

Doc crept silently through the halls of the station, moving slowly but swiftly. It had taken him a while, but he was finally nearing the point Jeremy had indicated as housing one of the breakers for that tractor beam. There had been a few close calls on the route, but so far he’d been able to slip away or hide before anyone noticed him and started asking questions.

_Not much farther now….should be just ahead…_

Doc rounded another corner and heard a large thrumming noise from a room just ahead. Checking that the coast was clear, Doc slipped into the room and saw his target, a large cylindrical breaker, located just underneath a grated bridge. Lights pulsed out of the top, sending energy to various parts of the station, including one very annoying tractor beam.

“And me without my rope and grapple,” Doc said ruefully. He looked over the bridge spanning the length of the room – no guardrails, no turn-offs, just a straight shot across with a giant breaker in the middle….and an endless drop if he missed his footing.

Examining the breaker, Doc saw that there was a small footpath running around the main operating structure. Crossing himself, he gently lowered himself down, keeping a firm grip on the side of the bridge. _Slowly…slowly…._his foot brushed the metal walkway. Taking a breath, he faced the breaker head on and swung. He landed on the metal walkway with his feet half off, but he did land it.

Above him, a door opened. Chancing a glance upward, Doc saw two stormtroopers enter, presumably on a standard patrol route. Doc slid along the edge of the breaker as the troopers chatted. One of them mentioned an alarm, and Doc immediately understood that to mean the others had gotten their job done. Now it was down to him.

After the two guards had moved off, Doc got moving again. He inched along until coming to a door leading into the breaker. It opened, and Doc immediately dove inside, his legs enjoying the feeling of a full floor underneath them. Looking around, Doc saw the entire room was empty save for a single switch in the middle of the floor….and a ladder leading upwards.

Doc examined the ladder. It went from floor to ceiling, where there was a windowless hatch at the top. Putting that aside for the moment, Doc went to the breaker switch. Electronics were not exactly his forte, but even so….Doc picked the switch up and flipped it over. A light began blinking in the corner of the room, and two buttons were flashing beneath where the switch had been. Doc pushed them both simultaneously, and then threw the switch back. Immediately, there was the sound of power running out from something as all nearby lights went dark and everything controlled by this breaker stopped working. Doc nodded to himself, and started up the ladder. The door at the top opened, and sure enough, Doc found himself in the middle of the bridge, the breaker room apparently only accessible if you knew where it was.

“Doesn’t do them much good now,” he muttered. The main lights in the area were still working, and Doc knew it wouldn’t be long before someone got wise and came down to check on things. Taking out his blaster, Doc took aim at the switch and fired, frying the circuitry and preventing it from being flipped again, at least for a time. Satisfied that he was unobserved, he exited the room and got moving back towards the hangar bay, where with any luck, Wynonna and the others were already waiting for him.

The flip of the breaker did not go unnoticed.

In his quarters, Del Rey sat attentively, eyes scanning multiple screens for any sign of suspicious activity. A prisoner riot in level 5, where the princess was, was being attended to, but none of the participants matched what he was looking for. It didn’t matter. She would be recaptured soon enough.

On another screen, a power level drop was being reported: a breaker had suddenly gone offline. Del Rey moved his fingers, and within moments discovered what that particular breaker powered…and then he knew. A wicked grin lit up his features like the flames of hell.

“_Holliday_,” he growled.

Soon. Del Rey turned his screens off and got moving.


	17. Chapter 17

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fates converge as our heroes try to escape from the God's Tower with their lives

Wynonna stretched her arms as she finished peeling the trooper armor off. “God, that stuff is _so _confining!” She looked over everything and detached a small utility belt before throwing the rest of the pieces back into the compactor. _“Vaya con Dios_, ugly outfit.”

“Alright,” said Nicole, checking her weapons, her own armor already disposed of and her normal flight pants and tunic showing once more. “If we can avoid jumping down any more garbage chutes and stay under the radar, we just might be able to get out of here in one piece.”

“Fine by me,” said Nedley. He tossed one of the blaster rifles to Nicole, strapping the other around his back. “Gun’s still got a decent charge to it, so may as well take them with us.” He looked at Wynonna. “I’d offer you one, but I get the feeling you’re just fine with what you got.” Wynonna made a face at him. Ignoring her, he added, “Sorry we just have the three.” Next to him, Waverly shook her head, declining his offer and apology.

“Good,” said Nicole. “Let’s—”

“Okay, easy there, Haught-Pants,” said Wynonna. “As far as they know, we’re dead in that compactor. What are you so worried for?”

“I’m worried, Wynonna, because it won’t take them long to figure out the hatch opened on this level, and I’d rather not be here when they do…which incidentally, wouldn’t have been a problem if you’d paid attention to the code I said back there.”

“Really?” said Wynonna, turning around to face Nicole head-on. “You honestly think those guards wouldn’t have taken any excuse to stop us?”

“I think we could have gotten a lot further in if you bothered to remember four little numbers—”

“_Enough_,” said Waverly brusquely. “While you two stand around arguing like a bunch of agitated Arisconians, those guards have probably alerted someone else. Can we maybe escape now and kill each other later?”

“Best idea I’ve heard all day,” said Wynonna. “Who has the communicator?”

“You do,” Nicole replied.

“Huh?” Wynonna patted her pockets and found it. “Oh, right. Jeremy, you still there?”

“I am definitely asking for a bonus when we finish this up,” muttered Nicole.

“_Jeremy!”_

“Yeah, right here, Wyn-er,” Jeremy answered. “I mean…that should have rhymed with winner. Uh….what’s up?”

“_We’re out of the trash and heading back to the ship. Any word on….anything?_”

“Yeah!” Jeremy switched monitors. “That breaker got shut off about ten minutes ago, I’ve been masking it’s readings so it still registers as active, so if we get outta here in the next half hour or so, we should be home free.”

“_Great. What about Doc?_”

“Still quiet visually, which since he didn’t take a comm unit with him is the best I can offer….but considering who he is, if someone did find him, I imagine it’d kick up quite a hootenanny.”

“_Yeah, good point – he’d rather punch out than go quietly._” The line was silent, and then Wynonna said, “_Alright, screw it. We’re headed back to the ship. Hopefully, he meets us there. If not…..we’ll figure something out_.”

“Copy. Over and—”

A loud banging sounded on the other side of the door. Jeremy winced and said quickly, “Out. Also, hurry. I’ve got company.” He turned the communicator off. Foregoing the use of his hands, Jeremy accessed the system network-to-network, carefully going over every search and keystroke he had taken and deleting any record of it. Just before pulling out, he found the security file link and kicked it into the nearest trash bin, getting rid of all recorded footage from the past twenty-four hours. Excessive, given how long they’d been here, but better than the alternative.

Behind him, the door started to open. He logged out just in time to see Dolls begin to choose targets. **Dolls, no!** he sent. **I’ve got this.**

**Jeremy, this is not a time for computer manipulation. These men will—**

**I know, I know, but just trust me. If it fails, you can still fight them later. **The door finished opening in time for Dolls to give him a warning look and resume his standby position. From the outer hall, a group of troopers poured in, led by one very angry looking agent. The agent looked around and saw Jeremy. Marching over to him, the agent asked, “What happened here?”

_He trusts the uniform….thank everything ever_. “Oh, thank god you’re here, agent!” Jeremy exclaimed loudly. “These people came in shooting, and they took out everyone else! They made me hack into the system and show them where a prisoner was being kept, and then they stole poor Kevin’s uniform and left. They said they were locking me in here, and that if I was lucky I’d starve before they returned, because if I didn’t—”

“Alright, alright, calm down, sir.” The agent looked at him with sympathy. “Where did they go?”

Jeremy swallowed. _Sorry, guys_. “They went to—”

“Sir!” One of the troopers said. “Alarms in level 5, area AA-23!”

“That must be them,” said the agent. He clapped Jeremy on the shoulder. “Stay strong, lieutenant. We’ll take care of that scum soon enough.”

_Lieutenant? Me? Wow…_ Trying to sound a little more authoritative, Jeremy said, “Very good. Make them suffer a little, why don’t you?”

The agent laughed. “MK-242!” One of the troopers stepped forward. “Escort the lieutenant here to medical, then come back and keep this site secure until it can be restaffed. Everyone else, with me!” The agent nodeded at Jeremy, and then he and the rest of the unit ran off, leaving Jeremy with one lone trooper. The trooper didn’t say anything, so Jeremy spoke first. “Listen, trooper, I’m actually feeling quite fit. I can keep an eye on this place, if you’ve got anything else to do.”

“Negative. I have been ordered to guard this room and take you to medical.”

“Yeah, but I don’t need a doctor, so—”

“Then I will guard you here while you get the system back online.”

“Negative.” Dolls stepped forward and threw the trooper against the back wall hard. The trooper collided with enough force to knock an unprotected man unconscious for a week. As it was, the trooper wearily got to his feet. “What—” he said, but before he could speak more Dolls had sent a lethal blast from his eye laser into the man’s skull. Dolls walked over to the trooper to examine him for life signs. “Should we escort him to the hospital?”

Jeremy realized that was addressed at him. “No….no, I don’t think that will be necessary.”

“Shall I escort you back to the ship, then?” Dolls turned and walked over to him, extending a hand to help him up.

“Yeah….that’d probably be good.” Jeremy put his hand in Dolls’, and was pulled quickly to his feet. The duo headed back to the ship, but outside the door, Jeremy thought of something. “Hey Dolls? Did you make a joke back there?”

“Clarify.”

“When you were standing over that guy and asked if we should take him to the hospital…..was that a joke?”

Dolls paused mid-stride but didn’t respond. After three-point-four seconds exactly had passed, Dolls said, “Negative” and walked on.

Behind the DL-S unit, Jeremy just grinned. _He made a joke. Wow…_

“Well,” said Wynonna. “The good news is they’re alive, but we might need to rescue them next.”

“They’ll be fine,” insisted Waverly. “Dolls is the strongest thing I’ve ever come up with, and Jeremy is the biggest genius on…” _On Alderaan_, she’d been about to say, except there was no Alderaan anymore. She paused for a second, and then said, “They’ll be fine.”

Beside her, Wynonna seemed to sense what she had been about to say, but didn’t press the issue. “If you say so,” she said instead. “So which way back?”

“We fell some distance, but the layout should be relatively similar from deck to deck,” said Nicole. “So if we came through from there…” She led them around a bend and down another hall with a large window in it. Nicole looked through the window and grinned. “There she is.”

The window offered them all a clear view of one of the station’s multiple hangar bays. Parked inside it was an old freighter that seemed to almost fit humanity’s old definition of ‘flying saucer’, with the sole reason it didn’t fit the description being an upraised middle section that made it more closely resemble an old cowboy hat. Outside the ship, half a dozen troopers were standing guard at the ramp.

Nicole came up beside her and said proudly, “Beautiful, isn’t she?”

_That old thing?_ “You…came here in that?”

“Yup,” said Nicole. Waverly’s tone must have registered, because Nicole’s voice changed. “Why, do you…not like it?’

Not wanting to insult her rescuer _or _her rescuer’s ship, Waverly smiled and made a noncommittal noise.

Nicole’s face fell. “You hate it.”

“No!” said Waverly quickly. “No, I like it. It’s very…” _Unique? Original? Old-fashioned? _“….cute.”

“Cute.” Nicole rolled her eyes, and Waverly was suddenly sure she’d said precisely the wrong thing. “Fine. Let’s get down to my ‘cute’ ship and get off this tub.”

Nicole moved off down the hall, taking a right turn. Nedley gave Nicole an encouraging smile and followed, with Waverly following. Behind her, Wynonna was checking in with Jeremy again. “You guys okay?”

“_Well, yes and no. We had to leave flight control, and now we’re hanging out behind a missile rack across from the ship. Where are you guys?”_

“Near a bay window a couple decks above you.”

_“Okay, good. There’s six troopers at the bottom of the ramp, but otherwise it’s clear.”_

“Awesome. Hang tight, we’ll be there in a few.”

Wynonna clicked off the radio. “You didn’t ask about Doc?” asked Waverly.

“Wouldn’t do any good,” she said. “If he doesn’t have a radio, the best we can do is wait for him and hope he meets us.”

“No, the _best_ we can do is go after him ourselves!”

“Not saying you’re wrong, but we’ve got three guns between us, and while you are super smart, I don’t think brains would stop lasers from hitting you.”

“She’s right,” said Nicole, thumbing a nearby door. “Once we get back to the ship, we can grab some more weapons and maybe go after him, but until then—”

The door opened, and half a dozen troopers were waiting for them. “Hey! That’s them!” said one.

Nicole didn’t waste time. She brought her rifle up and started firing at them, chasing them back down the hall. “Get back to the ship!” she shouted. “I’ll catch up!”

“But what about the guard?” Wynonna screamed after her. Nedley seemed about to say something, but just tossed his rifle to Waverly. As she caught it, he nodded at them and said, “I’ll keep her safe. Go.” and ran to catch up.

Waverly stared after the departing pilot and her sheriff. “Is she gonna be okay?”

“I’d worry more about us being okay, baby girl. Come on.” Wynonna pulled her down the opposite way towards the other side of the hangar. “Do you know where you’re going?”

“No idea,” admitted Wynonna as they ran. “I’d be happy with some stairs, or—”

“Look!” shouted Waverly. She ran towards an open door. “We can get in this way!”

“Waverly, wait!” Wynonna tried to grab her as Waverly rounded the corner. “There’s the…” She stopped as she found herself face to face with six troopers. The troopers stared at her as if they couldn’t quite believe this had just happened, and then Wynonna came barreling into her. “Don’t run off like that, okay? You could get in…” A rifle powering up alerted her to the danger they had just found themselves in as she turned to face the new threat. “…trouble.”

The troopers came on, and both Wynonna and Waverly started blasting them before running back the way they had come. “Please tell me this was your plan!” shouted Wynonna.

“If I do, do you promise not to be mad?” Waverly fired behind her, not sure if she had actually hit anything.

“It doesn’t matter,” Wynonna replied. “Just keep running, maybe we can lose them!”

Nicole chased the troopers down the corridor, firing her gun every few seconds. The troopers ducked left down a corridor and Nicole followed…and found herself facing a dozen more troopers. They opened fire, and Nicole wheeled around, cursing through her teeth as she found herself being pursued by even more troopers now.

_Goddammit, which way, which way…_ She rounded a corner and instantly collided with someone who wrapped their arms around her and pulled her back. Her fists beat uselessly against her captor until she heard a voice say, “Will you _stop?_”

Nedley. Ceasing her struggles, she looked around and saw that Nedley had pulled her into a firing range. _Makes sense there’d be one so close to a bunk for the guards_. There were a number of weapons hanging on the walls for customers to use. Nicole pointed, and the pair immediately started ransacking the place, coming away with a twin-barreled HPB pump-action long-range gun for Nedley and a number of motion activated grenades for her. As Nedley checked over his acquisition, she asked, “Which way did the others go?”

“Sent them back the other way, with a promise that we’d meet at the ship.” Outside, a squadron of troopers passed by. Nicole waited until it was quiet again, then said, “Guess we shouldn’t keep them waiting. Come on.” 

Wynonna led Waverly through the halls, the troopers in hot pursuit. Waverly let off a few blasts from her rifle, and the soldiers seemed to fall back. ‘if you’ve got a plan, now would be a really good time for it!”

“Working on it,” said Wynonna. There was a door just ahead of her and to the left. She aimed for it, ran through….and nearly fell off the edge of the gap. Waverly came through the entry and Wynonna stuck her hand out just in time.

The distance between their side and the other couldn’t have been more than twenty feet. There were doorways on every level, which almost made it look like some kind of giant elevator shaft, except for the bridges that were obviously supposed to extend to assist in crossing.

“Did we take a wrong turn somewhere,” said Waverly.

Wynonna shook her head. “Probably, but for now we need to worry about getting across this and down to ground level….or at least, landing bay level.”

“How about this?” said Waverly. There was a simple looking computer system next to the door, probably what was used to control the bridge. “Might be something,” said Wynonna, inspecting the pockets on the utility belt she’d borrowed from the dead troopers. One pocket had a collapsible grappling hook; another held spare blaster cartridges in case of a total charge depletion; a third had a half-finished sandwich.

“Come _on_,” said Wynonna, searching even more frantically. Beside her, Waverly held her rifle but looked even more worried than Wynonna felt.

“What are you even looking for?” said Waverly.

“There’s gotta be something to use to operate this – yes!” In the last pocket, a single gray keycard was at rest, and it looked like it would fit perfectly into the computer next to the door. She slid it in and the system activated. Laughing to herself, she hit the button to extend the bridge.

In front of them, the bridge sprang to life and began heading to the far side…._slowly_. Waverly’s face cringed. “Is there no way to make it go?”

“Doesn’t look like it….and hey, it’s already halfway across after ten seconds. What are you worried for? We’ll be back on the ship in no time.”

A laser blast exploded next to her head, and Wynonna looked up to see several troopers at a door on the next level, all trying to get a bead on her’s and Waverly’s heads. The two started shooting up – Waverly with her rifle, Wynonna with Peacemaker. One guard got struck in the middle of his chestpiece and fell down the shaft, screaming the whole way. He was replaced almost immediately.

Beside her, Waverly was starting to panic. “Wynona….what do we do?”

“Umm….” Wynonna checked how far they were from the other side. The gap was still closing, and currently was at a distance of about six feet from the other side. “Back to the other side!” she shouted. Waverly followed her, firing up at the troopers. Once they’d reached the entrance, Wynonna turned to Waverly and said, “Do you trust me?”

Waverly looked unsure for a second, then answered, “Yes?”

“Good enough.” Wynonna picked Waverly up with no preamble. “Whatever happens, just hold on to me.” Before Waverly could answer, Wynonna was running. The gap was still closing, making the distance to clear even less. Wynonna reached the end of the bridge, and jumped.

A steady whirring of the door greeted her as she stumble landed right in front of it. The door opened to reveal a blessedly empty corridor. Behind her, there was a tiny _thunk_ as the bridge finished extending. In her arms, Waverly was shivering. Wynonna set her down gently, saying, “Hey, it’s okay. We made—”

A hand shot out to strike Wynonna’s cheek. Waverly glared at her with all the righteous fury contained in one that had been raised as both princess and rebel. She got up and whispered, “If you ever do something as bullheaded as that again—”

“You’ll thank me for keeping you safe?” Wynonna interrupted.

Waverly searched for words, but there weren’t any. Wynonna nodded. “Come on – we’re on the same level as the hangar now, so we gotta be close.”

Doc emerged back on the first level. Luck had been with him thus far. The few guards he’d passed, or who had passed him, had all been too focused on their duties to notice a young-old man slinking about. Another sprint for the hangar, and he would be all—

“_Doc…_”

Doc froze. He recognized that voice all too well. He drew his pistols and turned around slowly. There, emerging from the end of the hallway…a figure dressed in white-fur rimmed blackness. A figure with a grin as wicked as his desires. A figure he might once have called friend.

“Bobo Del Rey…”

The grin on Del Rey’s face slipped momentarily, to be replaced by a face teeming with fury and pain and hatred. The grin reappeared, but Doc already knew he’d gotten to him. “Pleasure to see you again, old friend. Tell me, how is your new employer?”

“Oh, don’t be all high-and-mighty with me, Doc. Wyatt left both of us for dead.”

“Yes, but only one of us betrayed him.”

“Wrong and wrong again. I only betrayed him after he killed me. You, though…” Del Rey laughed. “You didn’t just betray the man, you betrayed his _ideals_…and which do you think hurt him more, in the end?”

“Well, I still have a chance to make up for it, then, don’t I?” Doc snarled.

“What, by helping Wyatt’s family? His granddaughter?” Del Rey laughed. “Oh, John…if she knew everything that you’d done, do you really think she wouldn’t turn that shooter on you?”

“She’s tough. She’d understand.”

“Really?” Del Rey sniffed the air, and pointed across the hangar. “Maybe we should ask her.”

Fury rose in Doc. “You will not _touch_ her, you son-of-a-bitch!” Doc aimed his guns and started firing.

Nicole stood with Nedley just outside the hangar. The _Stetson _was a mere hundred feet away.

“We could make it if we ran,” suggested Nedley.

“There’s still those guards to worry about,” pointed out Nicole. “Not to mention we have no idea where—”

“Are we late?” Wynonna came running up behind her, with Waverly following.

“You girls alright?” asked Nedley.

“Had a few close calls, but nothing major.”

Waverly scoffed. “You jumped us over a hundred-foot drop!”

“You did _what?_” said Nicole.

“Now, to be fair, that’s not entirely accurate,” said Wynonna. “I jumped us over maybe five feet of empty space at most.”

“Uh-huh….and the drop?”

Wynonna looked away from her. “I mean….who can really say how big a drop it was? Ten feet, a hundred, a thousand….numbers are relative, right? Hey, is that the ship?”

Nicole stopped her from going in. “Yes, _and_ it still has those guards on it.”

“Yeah, but there’s six of them, and four of us, and we’ve all got guns now….apparently….so that’s what, one-and-a-half guards apiece?”

“Aw, you did math,” said Waverly sarcastically. “Look, we’re still outnumbered and unarmored. There’s still more of them, so – Dolls!”

Wynonna looked at her as if she’d gone crazy. “You wanna throw toys at them?”

“No, Dolls – Jeremy said that they were in the hangar, right?”

“Yeah, good thinking.” Wynonna pulled out the communicator. “Jeremy, come in. Where are you guys?”

“_Wynonna?_” came the reply. “_We’re just below a window, across from the ship and behind some missiles. Where are you?_”

“Umm…” Wynonna peeked inside and saw the window Jeremy had mentioned. “Yeah, I got you. We’re in a door to your right.”

“_Awesome. Think you can get over here? Those guards are pretty anxious about something on the other side of the hangar._”

“That’s why we’re calling. Put Dolls on.”

“_Dolls? Okay…_” There was a brief pause, and then Dolls’ eternally calm voice came on. “_Responding._”

“Hey, Dolls, it’s Wynona. How you doing, buddy?” The communicator was silent. Wynonna felt a tug on her shoulder and heard Waverly say, “He’s not big on small talk.”

“You don’t say…” Wynonna keyed the communicator again. “Listen, Dolls, you see those troopers guarding the ship?”

Another pause. “_Affirmative._”

“Think you can pull them away from there somehow? I mean, not literally pull, but just…give us a chance to get on there?”

The line was silent for so long that Wynonna thought the communicator might have broken, but eventually Dolls responded, “_Affirmative. Wait eight seconds, then head for Stetson at a forty-two degree angle from your current position, followed by a turn to your two o’clock. Operation commencing on my mark. Mark._”

“Wait, what does that even—” The line went dead. Wynonna looked at the others and said, “He’s doing something. Let’s hustle.” Wynonna ran for the ship and saw Dolls tearing through the guards like they were made of glass. One of them looked their way, and said, “The princess! She’s over there!” Dolls heard and immediately a laser blast dispatched the trooper who had spoken, giving another the chance to come up behind Dolls. He knocked the droid over, but before he could finish Dolls off, Wynonna had shot the attacker. “Get the ship started!” she shouted to Nicole. She turned to Dolls and helped him up.

“You waited nine seconds,” said the droid.

“You’re welcome,” said Wynonna. “Behind us.” Her and Dolls turned and took out two more troopers. The others had fled. Wynonna looked around. “Where’s Jeremy?”

“Right here!” called Jeremy, popping out from behind the missiles. “Are we good?”

“Yeah, we just need to find—”

“_You see her, Doc? It’s your choice – her or you!_”

Doc fired off two more blasts into Del Rey’s hide. For all the good they did, he may as well have been throwing paper. The revenant bastard took them right in the face and kept smiling. He pointed across the way at something and said, “You see her, Doc? It’s your choice – her or you!”

Wynonna.

Doc screamed and fired his guns at full strength into Del Rey’s chest. “Robert Svane, Bobo, Robert Del Rey….whatever you call yourself, I promise you will be dead, and soon!”

Del Rey grunted. “You know…I always hated that name.” His fist struck out and knocked one of Doc’s guns down the hall. “Bobo…loosely translated, it means fool.” A hard kick to his knees, and Doc found himself falling. “A part of me once thought that perhaps Wyatt didn’t know that when he started calling me that – that he just found it’s similarity to Robert amusing.” A solid uppercut sent Doc flying across the hall and into one of the lighting panels hard enough to smash it open, breaking the lights and exposing the wires. “Now I know better.”

Doc struggled to crawl away, to regroup, to bring his other blaster to bear. Del Rey followed after him and stopped him with a foot planted across his back. “I don’t know if you realize, Doc, but these chips of ours are quite miraculous, in their way. They both keep us alive and back up our memories, so the only way to really kill us is with a giant jolt of heat, like, say, from that girl’s gun…or a directed electrical charge.”

Doc felt himself being picked up, and saw Wynonna frozen outside, unable to stop what was about to happen. Below him, Del Rey said, “Let’s see if this works.” With that, Del Rey threw him into the exposed active wiring. For a brief second, Doc thought he heard someone scream his name…and then there was only pain.


	18. Chapter 18

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The team finally escapes the God's Tower, but not without suffering their first major loss

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One of the problems I've discovered with writing is getting ideas which are absolutely brilliant, but which I then have to wait and slog through seventeen other chapters to get to. I've still got some of those, but with this chapter, I can at least put one of them safely behind me.
> 
> Major character 'death' ahead

“_DOC!!!_” screamed Wynonna, as the hulking form of Robert Del Rey picked him up and threw him into the lighting panel. Her scream alerted the others, and soon Dolls and Nedley were firing beside her, all of them aiming at the bastard who had just thrown Doc into a wall.

“Come on, you son of a bitch!” Wynonna screamed as she shot blast after blast from Peacemaker into Del Rey’s body. They were only regular blasts, but that was fine -- she was more concerned with hurting him than killing him, anyway. “You want an Earp? I’m right here, asshole, and I’ve got no reason to hold back, so _COME ON!!!_”

Del Rey turned his snarl on her, and Wynonna saw her chance. “Make your peace, asshole,” she said. She sighted down the barrel, and—

“Wynonna, look out!”

Instinctively, Wynonna glanced left and saw a missile rack flying towards her. She hit the deck as it sailed overhead, landing on the other end of the hangar. She looked up towards the hallway where Del Rey was…and it was empty.

“_No!_” She cursed and ran for the hall, but it was too late. _Dammit!_ “Either of you see which way—”

“Wy-wy-wy—” Wynonna looked at her feet and saw Doc there, bloody and bruised and beaten to a pulp but somehow still alive. _That damn chip…_ She knelt beside Doc as Nedley and Dolls joined her. Nedley looked shaken, but held his nerve. “Is he…”

“Sti-sti-still h-h-h—”

“Don’t talk,” cautioned Wynonna. She looked at the other two. “Del Rey threw him into the electrical system via the lights. He’s got some chip in his head, and…”

“His circuits are fried….frying,” said Nedley softly. Wynonna nodded. 

A grunt at their feet alerted Wynonna that Doc wanted to say something. He was convulsing fiercely as the shock from the electricity caused his chip to misfire all through his nervous system, but he held on. He raised a shaking hand and pointed towards the hangar...and space. _Go_, his eyes, pained as they were, said. “No, nuh-uh….we just need to get you sedated and reset, you’ll be fine.”

Doc’s head started shaking from left to right. Dolls head tilted slightly and he said, “Troops have been alerted to our location. E.T.A., forty seconds.”

“You hear that? Time to go, old man,” said Wynonna.

“Wynonna…” cautioned Nedley.

“No, shut up. He’s fine, he just needs the med bay.” Wynonna took Doc’s hand and for an instant her own world was pain as unknown volts of energy pushed through her body into everything she touched. Her right hand was essentially glued to Doc, and in her left she felt Peacemaker grow hot as the electricity wormed its way into that, too. She wanted to let go. She couldn’t let go. She had—

Someone kicked her in the stomach, breaking the connection. Wynonna gasped, and saw Nedley standing there, his foot outstretched. The question must have shown on her face as he shouted, “We can’t touch him, Wynonna! We can’t touch him, and we need to go, now!”

“But—”

“Twenty-five seconds,” warned Dolls.

_No, not again_. Wynonna looked at Doc, and saw resignation and acceptance in his eyes. She thought he heard him screaming for help, and she nodded and raised the weapon. “Make your peace,” she said, and fired.

She stood in silence as Nedley put a hand around her shoulder to lead her away. Dolls stepped in front of them and said, “Zero.” A door opened at the end of the hall and multiple troopers came streaming out of it, rifles firing at them. “Move!” screamed Wynonna. Nedley pulled her back towards the ship as Dolls laid down literal fire to cover their escape. Across the hangar, another door opened and more troops started entering. Wynonna and Nedley raised their weapons but were stopped by a sudden whoosh of fire from the _Stetson_. The missile struck the wall near the door, and Nicole’s voice came over a loudspeaker. “_If you guys are done, can you maybe board so we can get out of here?_”

Wynonna and her companions ran for the ramp and boarded quickly. The second the last of them was aboard, Nedley hit the switch to raise it and shouted, “We’re in! Go!”

“_Going!_” came the reply. The engines and ship roared as the _Stetson _blasted away. Wynonna climbed up to the second deck and headed for the kitchen to sit down as Nedley ran for the cockpit. Waverly was already there with Jeremy when she arrived, with Jeremy animatedly recalling the events of the past three days

_Three days? Has it only been that long? _Not dwelling on it, Wynonna pulled out a seat at the counter and sat, her mind numb. She heard footsteps and was unsurprised to see Waverly sitting down next to her. “Where’s Doc?” she asked. Wynonna turned to look at her, and the answer must have shown in her face as tears formed in Waverly’s eyes. Without thinking about it, Wynonna pulled the younger girl close as tears of her own formed. For a few moments, the two women just sat there, each holding the other as they mourned their recent losses.

“Come on, come on…” Nicole scanned the system and maps furiously, looking for any kind of vector that would get them out of the system. Alderaan was – or had been – a fairly populous system and a major port of call, so they should be able to at least locate the nearest system and then head for that, and from there, anywhere the princess wanted.

Actually finding one when they didn’t have a point of origin and source broadcast, however, was proving fairly difficult. “Anything on your end?”

“Nothing,” said Nedley. “If we don’t figure a way out of here soon….”

“I know, I know…” said Nicole. As she spoke, a light started flashing rapidly on the console. “Proximity warning. We got incoming.”

As if on cue, a squadron of BEE-fighters flew across their path, cutting them off. Nicole pushed the ship into a dive to avoid them. She looked at Nedley, and he nodded, taking the stick from his chair. Nicole ran back to the kitchen and saw Wynonna and Waverly sitting at the bar, holding each other. Fighting down a pang of jealousy, Nicole cleared her throat. “Wynonna.” The older girl looked up at her and Nicole said, “We’ve got fighters. Feel like blowing some up?”

The wicked grin on Wynonna’s face was answer enough. As Wynonna left her seat, Waverly asked, “Can I do anything?”

“Yeah,” said Nicole. “Head for the cockpit. Help Nedley find a way out of this system.” Waverly nodded and wiped a few tears from her eyes. Nicole wished she didn’t have to interrupt the mourning process, but if she didn’t, they’d be the ones being mourned. She ran for the stairs and followed Wynonna up. “Port and starboard, take your pick.”

“I got right,” said Wynonna, heading for the starboard gun controls. Nicole nodded and went for the port set. The rickety seat inside the turret control bent slightly under her weight, but held. She hit the switch to power up the manual turret control and put on the radio headset. “You strapped in, Wy?”

Wynonna looked around the cramped turret and saw a headset dangling from a nearby hook. She pulled it on and said, “All set.”

“_Good_,” came Nicole’s reply. “_Because here they come._” Sure enough, the targeting screen in front of Wynonna was lighting up with two targets entering from her left, towards the cockpit. At her feet were two pedals, and Wynonna experimentally pushed the one on the right down with her right foot. The turret obediently began rotating towards her right…towards the rear of the ship. “Okay, simple enough,” she said to herself. Over the radio, Waverly said, “_There’s four fighters on us_.”

“Not for long,” said Wynonna. She checked the screen in front of her as the ship shook due to a laser blast somewhere. On the display, Wynonna saw a red marker entering the screen on her right. Taking the gun controls in hand and sending a silent thanks to whoever had designed the firing mechanism to resemble a steering wheel, Wynonna lined up her target and pressed the firing button. Lasers shot out from the turret above her towards the incoming fighter and struck it dead on, causing a beautiful explosion of oxygen that was just as quickly snuffed out. Wynonna whooped in victory and screamed into the radio, “One down!”

In the cockpit, Waverly checked the holographic radar setup and said, “Three to go” in response to Wynonna’s cry. Turning to Nedley, she said, “Okay, where was Alderaan?”

“Debris field should be coming up on your left.” Sure enough, the giant mass of rocks that Waverly had once grown up on was entering her field of vision. Putting a block on her emotions for the moment (_There’ll be time for that later….if there is a later_), she checked their coordinates on the readout. “This is the same path you came in on?”

“Close as siblings,” said the former sheriff as another fighter exploded on their port side, followed by a victory laugh from Nicole.

“Okay, then…” Waverly grabbed the controls in front of her and pulled back hard, flipping the ship. A nonplussed Nedley pulled a lever on the console and they rocketed forward as Waverly then pulled hard to the left, turning them over on their longitudinal axis.

Nicole’s voice came up on the radio as a crashing sounded from the kitchen. “_Hey, what’s going on up there?_”

“Don’t worry about it!” Waverly returned. “We’ve still got two left!”

“Right…” said Nicole. Checking her display, Nicole saw both fighters pulling together on her side. One of them made a beeline

_(No pun intended,_ she thought wryly)

for her as the other headed for Wynonna’s turret on the other side. A continuous laser blast from the BEE shot towards her, and the ship shook again. Nedley’s voice came on the line, saying, “_Shielding down to twenty percent, and we just lost the aft missile launcher!_”

“It’s fine!” said Nicole. “She’ll hold together!” Lining up her turret with the incoming fighter, Nicole pressed the fire button down as another explosion sounded from the other side of the ship, followed by a cheer from Wynonna. Smiling at the thought, she said, “Nedley, we got a path yet?”

“_Just found one!_” the big man replied. “_Locking it in….six seconds to jump…_” Nicole nodded and adjusted her position slightly as the last BEE closed in on her. They both fired, and Nicole saw a brilliant explosion in front of her as the fighter detonated against her lasers just as the ship made the jump to hyperspace.

“_We did it!_” shouted Waverly.

“Yeah,” said an exhausted Nicole. “Good job, everybody.” Her energy spent, she leaned back in the gunner’s seat as the cheers of her companions echoed through the ship. She would join them in a second, but first, she just wanted a chance to catch her breath after how close a call they had just had.

“Yo, Haught!” Wynona shouted down the entry tunnel to Nicole’s chamber. “All that flying and flipping trapped Jeremy under one of the beds! It’s hilarious! You coming?”

“Yeah,” said Nicole with a sigh. “Yeah, I’m coming.”

In the control room, Del Rey watched all of the screens carefully. Although it was against his nature to be optimistic, he couldn’t help but feel a little satisfied. Holliday, his oldest rival, was finally dead, and by Del Rey’s own hand, no less. The body had been recovered and was currently on its way to an incinerator. The team that found it had reported a blaster impact in his head – something from the girl’s gun, no doubt; an attempt to ease Holliday’s suffering – but Del Rey knew that the blow that had really killed John Henry “Doc” Holliday had been the one he, Robert Del Rey delivered.

The door to control opened as Clootie’s scent entered Del Rey’s nostrils. She came up behind him, but said nothing. Without looking at her, Del Rey said, “They’re away?”

“The ship just made the jump to hyperspace. I assume that was part of your plan.”

Del Rey nodded. “Those fools spent so much time running everywhere on this station….and it was the work of less than a minute for one of our troopers to put a beacon of our own on the ship. As soon as they break an atmosphere, real or artificial, we’ll know.”

Clootie merely scowled. “And you think this is better than just killing that pest of a princess?” She sighed. “This whole move is an awful risk, Robert. It had better work.”

“It will, dear Constance. I guarantee it.”

The pain had stopped. Now there was only darkness.

He didn’t know where he was. When he tried to move his hand, nothing happened. When he tried to blink his eyes, there was nothing but darkness and more darkness. He couldn’t move himself, but at the same time he felt the passage of air around him and knew that somehow, in some way, even after everything Del Rey had done to him, he was capable of moving, or at least of being moved.

He heard voices around him, Wynonna and Nicole and Waverly. He couldn’t make out the words, but at least he knew he was near friends.

With that, at least, Doc Holliday was content. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, that ending, huh? I'd been struggling to come up with how to pull off ghost Obi-Wan in this story that didn't actually have Force powers in it. It was a bit of a hurdle, but then I remembered a Johnny Depp film called 'Transcendence' about a guy who lives on after his body's death inside a computer system. Once I hit upon that, everything else was easy. 
> 
> There are some more character surprises in store, but I don't want to give anything else away...and the big ones won't be until part two or three, at any rate. Either way, I hope you're enjoying things and that you keep sticking around as we head into the final act (act, not chapter....if this were a movie, we'd have a good twenty to thirty minutes left).


	19. Chapter 19

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The group comes to grips with the consequences of their recent actions.

As Wynonna and Nicole descended the stairs into the galley, they found themselves caught up in a congratulatory hug from Waverly. Before either of them could protest, the younger woman had pulled both of them off the stairs and was hugging them tightly. “That was amazing!” said the young woman happily. “You both were brilliant, and did you see that flip I pulled?”

“Yeah…” said Nicole uncomfortably. ‘Yeah, that was…really something."

Undeterred by Nicole’s refusal to accept her thanks, Waverly turned to Wynonna. “Really, both of you…thank you. I just wish Doc was still here to celebrate.”

Wynonna’s face stiffened and she broke out of Waverly’s grasp. “I should go help Jeremy,” she said brusquely, and headed off towards the bunks. Waverly watched her leave and turned to Nicole. “Did…did I say the wrong thing?”

“Come on,” said Nicole, heading to the cockpit. “We’ll talk.”

Confused, Waverly followed Nicole up to the cockpit. Inside, Nedley was checking their course. “Well, princess, that course you set—oh…” He looked up, seeing Nicole. The captain waved her hand, and Nedley continued. “I was just saying…the course she set is locked in, so we should get there in about six hours or so.”

“Lovely,” said Nicole. “Get _where?_”

Nedley looked to Waverly. “Lihevhat,” she said. Nicole turned to her, and Nedley said, “I think I’ll give you two some privacy.” The man exited the cockpit and Waverly sat in the co-pilot’s seat. Nicole took her own seat and said, “Why Lihevhat?”

“It’s where the main Rebel base is,” answered Waverly. “Or at least, it’s the current location of it.”

“You move it around,” said Nicole. nodding her understanding. “Smart.”

“It’s kept them…..us….active so far. We never stay in one spot for very long – a couple months, at most – and always choose backwaters or environmentally hostile planets….places with no population to speak of, basically. That way, if the church does find us, at least we won’t risk losing innocent lives…” Waverly trailed off.

“Losing innocents in combat,” Nicole finished. Waverly nodded, thinking of everyone on Alderaan. Nicole was silent for a moment, then said, “It wasn’t your fault, you know.”

Waverly looked at Nicole as if she was crazy. “Of course it was! Clootie and Del Rey destroyed my whole planet because I gave them the wrong name!”

“Really? Because it seems to me that they wanted to teach you – teach _us _– the lesson that messing with them is a mistake.” Nicole sighed. “Tell me something: what do you think would have happened if you’d been honest with them….if you told those bastards _exactly_ where the base actually is?”

Waverly stopped. “I…well, the rebellion would be stopped, and—”

“Sure, they’d be killed, but I mean to _your_ planet. Do you think for one second that Mother Clootie would go ‘Thank you so much for being honest, Princess. We have a shuttle ready to take you home while we go kill all of your friends’?”

“I….suppose not.”

“Of course she wouldn’t. People like her are bullies – they’re only interested in causing pain where there isn’t any. I hate to say it, but your planet was probably doomed the second they captured you.” Waverly winced, but didn’t say anything, so Nicole continued. “Even if you had told her the truth, she would have blown up the planet anyway under some bullshit pretense like ‘aiding the rebels’ or ‘harboring illegal fugitives’ or something like that.”

Waverly thought about Nicole’s words, and about everything Clootie had said before destroying Alderaan. “She…_did_ call us traitorous,” said Waverly slowly, “and she wasn’t entirely wrong. Father had been helping to fund the rebellion for ages.”

“Exactly. Your planet was probably already on their radar long before you got captured. Hiding the amount of money it would take to fund something like that always leaves traces. Either someone notices an amount of money funding nothing, or someone else notices a person has significantly less money than they should, or a third person notices a lot of ships being moved to a location with no previous military activity….it always adds up, and rarely in a good way.”

Waverly leaned back in her seat. She wasn’t over Alderaan’s destruction – it had been her home, after all – but Captain Haught’s words had helped to lessen at least some of the sting of its loss. “Thank you,” she said demurely.

Nicole smiled. “You’re welcome.” The two were silent for a moment, and then Nicole asked, “So what now? I mean, you’ve commandeered my ship to take you somewhere, so I’d think I have a right to know what’s next.”

Waverly laughed. “Once we get to Lihevhat, we finally get the plans for that station out of Dolls and start looking for a weakness.”

“Yeah, Wynonna mentioned he was carrying something in him.” Nicole said.

“She did?”

“Yeah. I guess she found the droids and accidentally activated your message. That’s how she knew to find…”

“Doc.” Nicole nodded. “Okay…what about you?”

Nicole looked at Waverly as though she had said Lord Clootie was her favorite person. “What about me what?”

“Well, you’re here…and you’re a good pilot, and a great fighter. We could use you.”

Nicole shook her head. “Listen…” she said, trying to explain. “I get what you’re fighting against, I do. But I’m not on some noble crusade. I’m only here because Wynonna and Doc needed a ride, and if it wasn’t me, it’d be someone else.”

The words hit Waverly hard. “Oh…”

Nicole seemed to realize what she had said. “Look, it’s not just _that_. I owe a pretty dangerous person a lot of money, and if I don’t pay her back—”

“More dangerous than Clootie?” Waverly shot back.

“No…but…” Nicole searched for something to say, some way to make Waverly understand.

“Forget it,” said Waverly. “Just fly the ship.”

“Waverly—”

“I said drop it.” Waverly turned away from Haught and stared into hyperspace. “Just get us to the base in one piece, okay? I’ll get you your money, and then you can go.”

“But—”

“Stop,” said Waverly, and thankfully, the captain did.

In the bunks, Wynonna and Dolls were in the process of freeing Jeremy. The cyborg had been pinned by two beds that had come loose of their moorings during the attack. He didn’t seem hurt, but he was stuck under there until they were able to get him out. “Okay,” Wynonna said to Dolls. “On three, lift those things up, and I’ll pull.” Dolls nodded, and Wynonna counted down. “One…two…three.”

The beds that were holding Jeremy flew upward with ease in Dolls hand, and Jeremy’s face could be seen again. Wynonna grabbed his leg and started pulling, but he was moving slowly…so slowly….

“Uh…Wynonna?”

“Shut up, Jeremy, I got this!” The young man was heavier than he looked, but Dolls didn’t seem about to tire, so Wynonna kept pulling. “Okay…just another thirty seconds, and–”

“Wynonna, I was only trapped under the bed. I can still—”

“Goddammit, Doc, I can do this, just shut up and let me save you!” screamed Wynonna. Jeremy’s mouth stopped moving, and Wynonna stared at him. “I can save you, I just—”

“Seems to me that boy can save himself just fine, young lady.” Wynonna turned and saw Nedley leaning against the doorframe. He nodded at Jeremy. “Can you move, son?”

Jeremy gulped. “Yes, sir.”

“Then get out of there. I’ll take care of this one.” Nedley turned and walked out of the room. “You better be following me, girl.”

Silently, Wynonna went after him. When she came up front, she found Nedley going through the space underneath the counter that her and Waverly had been sitting at before and pulling out various bottles. “I thought the only drinks were coffee and recycled water.”

“And beer of varying ages, don’t forget. I’d say you’ve earned the good stuff, though.” By the time he was done, there were seven bottles from various well-known – and expensive – collections set up across the bar…bottles so expensive it would have bankrupted Shorty’s to purchase even one of them. Nedley closed the cabinet beneath and said, “Preference?”

“I…uh…” Her eyes darted from bottle to bottle, trying to decide. “Whatever’s strongest, I guess.”

Nedley nodded and picked up a red-orange bottle that looked about half-full. He went to another cabinet and pulled out two glasses. Not wanting to wait, Wynonna grabbed the bottle and went to work on the top. It opened with a satisfying pop just as Nedley returned. “What are you doing?” he said.

“What’s it look like?” she returned. “Getting drunk.”

“No,” said Nedley, pulling the bottle from her hand and instead emptying its contents into the two glasses.

“Are you trying to cut me off, Nedley?” Wynonna objected. “Because—”

“There are times and places for knuckleheaded drunkenness, and this is not that,” said the old man. He held out one glass that was half-full of a steaming amber liquid. “This…is a wake.”

“A wake?” said Wynonna. She took the glass and downed it in one swallow, and was rewarded with a burning sensation so strong it felt like she’d put all of Purgatory in her mouth. She eyed Nedley and said, “The hell does he need a wake for? I’m the only person who even knew him, and only for a few days, at that.”

“Well, that’s not necessarily true,” said Nedley, sipping carefully at his own glass. After a few seconds with no reaction, he turned to her and said, “If you work through it slowly, it hurts less. Better all around, I find.”

“Don’t try to teach me anything right now, Nedley. Just let me wallow.”

Nedley nodded and poured her a second. “How about I just talk, then? That okay?”

“So long as the drinks keep coming.”

“Good,” said Nedley. He took another sip and considered his words. “We share a home, you know.”

“Yeah, I was just thinking how much you remind me of my—”

“I mean Purgatory, Earp. I grew up there, too. Joined the law, did my duty to my fellow being….and saw some dirty stuff, too. One night, we got a call to some residence that had been all torn apart. Pretty much everyone in the house was dead. I was sent out to the surrounding area to see if there was anyone dragged off or waiting. I get out there, and I see the owner of the house in the distance. Couldn’t tell if he was alive or dead—”

“Stop,” whispered Wynonna.

“—so I start heading over. Just as I do, I hear this voice I don’t recognize calling out that he’s found a survivor. I rush over, and there’s a man holding a scared little girl. He tells me you need medical attention—”

“Stop it,” warned Wynonna, more forcefully this time.

Nedley wouldn’t. “—and that he’s going to hunt for more survivors. I never saw him again after that night, until—”

“_STOP!_” screamed Wynonna, and threw the glass at Nedley’s head. Fortunately, her aim was off and the glass bounced off one of the walls and slid harmlessly to a stop in the middle of the floor. Nedley watched the glass rolling, and then turned back to her. “You okay?” he asked.

Wynonna laughed at the question. “Why did you tell me that? I mean….what the hell, man.”

“Because you were so upset and angry and scared after all that, but you somehow got through it.” Nedley put his glass down. “Maybe it’s stubbornness and maybe it’s strength and maybe it’s just dumb old luck, but you survived your whole family dying when you were just six years old. There’s not a great many people who could pull off something like that, and right now we need that strong girl to show up and kick some ass. For Doc.”

Wynonna nodded. She lifted Nedley’s glass to her lips and drank the liquid down slowly. It burned like nothing else, but she took it slowly and worked through it, and soon the glass was empty. When it was, she felt…..better, somehow. Looking at Nedley, she said, “So when did you realize?”

“Who you were?” Wynonna nodded. “Well, let’s see….there was the time you said your name was Earp, a name that just happened to be shared with my old boss.”

“Wait, really?”

“Christ, Wynonna, your dad was the sheriff – my boss. Of course I recognized the name.”

“Okay, sorry…”

Del Rey paced endlessly in front of the monitors. None of his subordinates dared approach him. His gaze darted relentlessly to and fro across the board, trying to take in every scrap of information all at once. The beacon was functioning perfectly, and was currently moving at a speed consistent with lightspeed. The second it dropped out of orbit, they would have a system. Shortly after that, they would have a destination. Shortly after that….

An alert sounded. Del Rey looked up as several technicians began typing furiously, narrowing down the position of that ship. A minute passed.

Two minutes.

Three. “_Well?_” growled Del Rey.

Finally, an analyst across the room stood up and faced him. “My lord, we have them.”

“Good,” said Del Rey, and in a flash he was across the room and next to the analyst. “_Where?_”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For the Wayhaught scene in the cockpit, I was trying to channel the mood of when they're in the car after canon-Nicole tracks down canon-Waverly in episode 1x09 ("Bury Me With My Guns On"). Of course, as soon as I wrote it, I immediately wanted to scrap the whole thing and rewrite it so it ends with them happy and canoodling. Sadly, they have some stuff to get through first...
> 
> The name of the actual rebel base planet comes from the Kurdish word for 'understanding'.. I went with that because the original name, Yavin, is Hebrew and means approximately the same thing. in other news, Google translate is so useful and incredibly non-useful at the same time.
> 
> Not too many chapters left in book one, now!


	20. Chapter 20

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The plans for the God's Tower finally make it to the rebels; Wynonna meets an old friend; Nicole faces a difficult decision

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 20! Never thought I'd ever be able to write this much, and I've still got plenty to say (though not in this book). For now, though, I anticipate only two or three more chapters in this story plus a small epilogue, so expect those over the next couple weeks.

“It’s so…._green_,” said Wynonna, her eyes squinting against the light as they flew over the treetops of Lihevhat.

Nicole had to agree. As a smuggler, she’d been to a lot of planets over the years, but almost all of them were bustling megapolises, and those few that weren’t were hyper-barren and largely unwelcome. In either case, the residents were tough, cruel, and would kill you without a second’s hesitation.

This, though…Nicole dropped lower as they headed for the coordinates Waverly had provided. This place looked as if it had been untouched by any but the most primitive forms of life. There was no obvious sign of civilization, and if it weren’t for a steady beep coming from somewhere up ahead, Nicole would have thought that Waverly had purposely misled them for some reason.

_Not that she’d have a reason to, oh no._ Nicole stole a sideways glance at Waverly, her back straight and her finger on the comm. Since their talk last night, Waverly had kept largely to herself. So far as Nicole knew, she hadn’t said a word to her or Wynonna in the time since, although the latter may have been at least partially from the hangover Doc’s impromptu wake had caused.

A short burst of static sounded over the radio. Nicole’s hand moved to switch to a clearer frequency and Waverly slapped it away. Before Nicole could ask why, a quicker burst sounded, followed by two more in rapid succession one second later. Waverly picked up their own radio and whistled into it: one short note, two longer ones, and one more long one at a lower pitch than the other two. The radio was silent for a moment, and then a voice came on, saying, “_Unidentified vessel, report name and purpose_.”

Without blinking, Waverly came back with, “Angel Ghost, on a borrowed ship with some bonus delivieries.”

“Angel Ghost?” asked Wynonna.

“Give it a minute,” said Waverly. The crew waited, and when the operator on the other end spoke again his whole manner had changed. “_Waverly? Is that you?_”

“Hi, Perr,” Waverly said. “I’ve got that….thing….we had talked about.”

“_Copy!_” said the voice on the other end. “_Head for landing bay…uh…._” There was a scrambling sound. “_Sixty-nine! Put your ship in sixty-nine, we’ll meet you there._”

Wynonna snorted a laugh back as Waverly said, “Copy, heading for port…” She glanced back at Wynonna, whose eyes were bright with anticipation. “We’ll see you there.”

Waverly hung up the radio, and Wynona quickly said, “You were gonna say port of entry, weren’t you?”

“Grow up,” said an exasperated Waverly.

“What was all that static and callsign stuff?” asked Nicole, hoping she wouldn’t be shut out.

“We learned early on that the church had ears everywhere. Since an encrypted transmission looks even more suspicious, we just hide in plain sight, pretending to be…”

“Smugglers?” said Nicole.

Waverly didn’t answer. “It’s worked for years. With the amount of comm traffic broadcasting just in one system on any given day, even the best cryptographers would have a hard time keeping up with everything. We limit ourselves to short messages, hide behind key phrases…it’s more effective these days then you might think.”

Nicole nodded and guided the ship over the treetops towards a mountain range. A nav point popped up, and she followed it towards a cave. Once they were inside, it was all Nicole could do to not let out a whistle. The entire inside of the mountain seemed to have been hollowed out, and it was teeming with people of all ages, races, and genders. Some of them were maintaining ships, but most of them were just relaxing, watching the various comings and goings of the more serious-minded rebels. “There’s so many…” said Nicole as she brought the ship in.

“Yeah,” said Waverly. “A lot of these people have been left without homes or jobs by everything Clootie has done. For a long time, most of them just sat around waiting to die. We can’t save everyone, but we grab who we can where we can. We bring them in, provide for them….” Waverly smiled. “It’s good work.”

Nicole was struck. She’d always heard that the rebellion was small and spread out, not really a threat. If there were this many people, though…

Wynonna was having similar thoughts. “Do they fight?”

“If they want. We only take volunteers. People who have seen the danger and…” Her eyes darted to Nicole, and her voice lost the soft pride it had contained. “…and are willing to stand by us and fix it.”

Nicole finished parking the ship and shut down the engines. “Sounds nice,” she said.

“It is,” agreed Waverly. “I wish more people would join, but…it really is.”

“Well, you know…not everyone can run off from life at a moment’s notice.”

Waverly sighed and got up. At the cockpit’s entrance, she paused and looked back at Nicole. “It’s still important that we help those who need it, Nicole. If we don’t, we’re no better than Clootie.”

Nicole leaned back in her seat, digesting Waverly’s parting words. Behind her, a throat cleared. She turned and saw Wynonna still sitting there, only now a very intense scowl was on her face. “Whatcha doing there, Haughty?’

Nicole groaned. “Wynonna, not now, please…”

“I only ask because it looks like you’re trying to get in good with my – with Waverly, and that would not be a good idea.”

“Sorry, are we doing this?” asked Haught. “Waverly is Waverly. She doesn’t need some random person who happened to save her making life choices for her.”

“Well, I could say the same for you.”

“Meaning what?”

“Just that if you make her cry, I will end you.”

“Wynonna….” Nicole felt the beginnings of a headache coming on. “What is this about? Do _you_ want to date her?”

“What?” Wynonna’s face puled a one-eighty as if she’d suddenly bit into something sour. “No, I – you – she – just…” Without another syllable, Wynonna quickly turned and ran from the cockpit.

_Great_, thought Nicole. _Just great._

As Waverly exited the _Stetson_, she saw the rest of the main Rebel command approaching. At the forefront was a man about ten years her elder, with jet black hair and incredibly focused eyes. He rushed forward and without preamble pulled Waverly into a giant hug. “Thank God you’re okay,” said Perry. “After the signal from your ship went dead, and then Alderaan…”

“I know,” said Waverly, her hand on his shoulder.

“How did you break free?” said one of the others.

“I had some help.” Waverly turned and saw Wynonna walking up, with Peacemaker dangling from her hip. Behind her, she could see Nicole and Nedley making their way through the bay with the droids close behind. Waverly turned back to the group and said, “Gentlemen, this is Wynonna Earp.”

“Earp?” said one of the people.

“Yes, as in,” replied Waverly. A murmur ran through the crowd as the rest drew near. “Also, we have Sheriff Randall Nedley—”

“Please, just Nedley is fine, I beg of you,” said the old man.

“—and Nicole Haught.” The group went awkwardly silent, and Nicole stood there nervously. Waverly took pity on her and said, “They were of great assistance in saving me, and I promised them that they would be duly rewarded for their service.”

“Of course, of course,” said Perry. He turned to Nicole and shook her hand. “I can’t tell you what a relief it is to have the princess back here with us. What reward would be suitable, in your opinion?”

Nicole struggled to speak for an instant. “Well…..when we originally were…er, ‘recruited’ by Miss Earp, she said seventeen—”

Perry laughed. “Is that all? That hardly seems fair. How about—”

Nicole threw up her hands. “No!” she shouted. “That is….I wouldn’t want to take any more money from you then might be necessary, if you don’t mind.”

Perry nodded once. “Seventeen, then. We’ll ready it for you as soon as possible. Anything else?”

Nedley spoke up. “Well, our ship was a little damaged in the escape…”

Perry snapped his fingers and a pilot came running over. “Get a repair crew over to bay 69. Give them whatever they need.” The pilot nodded, and Perry turned to Nicole. “Thank you, again.”

“Good,” said Waverly. “Now we need to start analyzing Dolls. That tower may already be on its way here. We need to be ready.”

As Waverly wandered off with the main command group, Wynonna stood beside Nicole and watched them go. “So….” she said, leaning close to Nicole. “That wasn’t awkward at all.” The pilot rolled her eyes at Wynonna and headed back to the _Stetson_. “Oh, no, that’s fine!” Wynonna called after her. “I’ll be okay! It’s not like I actually know anyone here!”

“Wynonna?”

Wynonna turned at the sound of someone calling her by name and nearly screamed with delight. “Hetty!” Wynonna ran up to her old friend and nearly crushed her in a hug. “God, I haven’t seen you in forever. What the hell are you doing here, girl?”

Hetty shrugged and smiled, her strawberry-blonde hair falling straight over her flight-suit clad shoulder. “Fighting with the rebels, obviously…and it’s only been a couple years.”

“Well, it feels like a lot longer,” said Wynonna. “Your mom and brother really let you run off and join up?”

Hetty laughed. “Well, they didn’t have much of a choice. After the farm went under and we had to leave Purgatory, things were…difficult. I told Mama there’d be a way to survive if they came with me, but you know Mama…”

“Yeah, I bet. You heard from ‘em, at least?”

“No….” said Hetty sadly. “Not that I expect to, anyway…but enough about me! What’s this I hear about you going by ‘Earp’ all of a sudden?”

Wynonna laughed. “Yeah…probably should have told you at some point, but Shorty, he just raised me. My real daddy was an Earp, and so am I.”

Hetty’s face grew serious. “Really…”

“Yeah…it’s a long story, and I’ll tell you all about it later. For now, though, how about showing me how those fancy fighters work? I got a feeling I might be needing one soon.”

“Sure,” said Hetty, her voice deepening slightly. “I’ll take care of you.”

“Well, you boys have certainly been through a lot, haven’t you?” said the technician.

Jeremy shrugged his shoulders. “It’s definitely been an adventure, but we’ve managed to survive.”

“I’ll say you have,” said the tech. “Tell me, what’s it like being the first cyborg lieutenant in the church navy?”

Jeremy smiled and looked at his borrowed uniform. “Yeah…I should probably change out of this at some point.”

“No complaints from me.” The technician examined a screen and nodded. “Alright, everything for you is functioning normally. Now to get your friend in here.” The tech signaled, and Dolls marched over, escorted by a single soldier. The technician began plugging a bunch of wires into various holes in Dolls’ mechanical side.

“Okay, then,” said the young man, “Let’s see what you got in you, big guy…” The tech hit a switch, and immediately all sorts of data began flooding the rebellion servers – blueprints, technical readouts, armaments; there was even information from their rescue of Waverly, including interior maps and a rough command structure. It took the team of analysts, engineers, and technicians nearly four hours to go over everything. When they did, the lead technician sighed. “Call command,” he said. “Tell them we might have something.”

Half an hour later, everyone was packed into an extremely small briefing room located just off the main hangar. Wynonna tugged at the neck of her own flightsuit and looked around the room, trying to get a sense of who was there and who wasn’t. It looked like the commanders of each of the four main attack squadrons were present, as well as their second in commands. Up front, the main command group was filing in. There was Waverly’s friend Perry, who was…not bad looking. A serious looking woman with dark red hair stood next to him, and Wynonna knew instantly that whatever funding Waverly’s dad might have sent, this well-coiffed lady had a sizable chunk of money in it herself. An older guy with most of his hair missing and a beard that met his waist was next. A few others followed him, and at the very end of the line was Waverly.

The bearded guy stepped forward, and the murmurs in the crowd died down. Beside her, Hetty whispered, “Okay, _try_ to pay attention. Some of what these guys say might be important.”

“You’re the one whispering, _Henrietta_,” returned Wynonna, using her friend’s full name to make a point.

“No, you are!”

“No, you!”

“No—”

“Ladies and gentlemen,” said the old man. “I wish I had better news for you right now. The _God’s Tower_ is on its way here, and it means to destroy us and everything we have worked for. Fortunately, we have a plan. The blueprints of this station that were obtained by Princess Weatherly—”

“_Waverly!_” shouted Wynonna from the crowd. At the front of the room, everyone’s gaze focused on her, and she tried to sink lower in her seat. “He….he said the wrong name. Sorry.”

“Did I?” The old man went back over what he had been saying, then shrugged. “At any rate, the plans have revealed a tiny weakness in the station’s superstructure, one which only a fighter would be capable of exploiting.” He pressed a button, and a display in the middle of the room lit up. “If a single fighter were to get around to the back of the station, they would be able to head up this trench here, about halfway up the side.” The display zoomed in again. “Along the station’s prime meridian is a ventilation shaft barely big enough to accommodate a single fighter. If one of you pilots is able to get past the outer defenses and penetrate your way into this hole, you should have a clear shot at the main reactor of the station. Once inside, attack it with everything you have and the station and everyone in it will be blown away. Any questions?”

“General Innes, how deep is the shaft?” said a pilot.

“You will have to travel a distance of no more than fifty kilometers to reach the center,” answered the general. “Any other questions?”

There weren’t. The general dismissed them, and everyone in the room got up to leave. As Wynonna turned towards the exit, she saw Nicole standing in the doorway. With her old flight jacket on, the pilot seemed ready to leave. “You heading out?” she asked.

“Yeah,” said Wynonna. “They need all the help they can get, and last I checked I’m a pretty good shot.”

“You’re alright,” said Nicole teasingly.

“What about—”

“You’re still here,” said a voice from behind her. Wynonna turned and saw Waverly staring straight at Nicole. Wynonna checked her right side and saw Nicole staring back at Waverly. Neither said anything.

“Hey, you know what?” said Wynonna. “I probably have a ship to check out or something. I’m gonna…” With that, she left, leaving the other two to make up or kill each other…or both.

Nicole looked at Waverly. Despite the fact that they were about to launch a potentially suicidal attack at the biggest structure any organic being had ever built, there was a calmness about Waverly. Even when she looked at Nicole, with eyes that were overflowing with anger and regret and sadness, her face remained still and perfect. She turned that face to Nicole and said, “I thought you might have left by now.”

“They just finished attaching the last wires for the launcher,” explained Nicole. “I thought I’d….”

“Thought you’d what, Nicole?” Waverly said impatiently. “In case you haven’t noticed, I don’t have much time to spare here.”

_Apologize. Swear allegiance to you. Apply to be your personal bodyguard. _“…let you know we were leaving.”

“Fine,” said Waverly. “You’re leaving. Fly safe.” Waverly started to storm off, and Nicole quickly grabbed her and pressed her lips up against Waverly’s. The connection was immediate: Nicole felt how smoothly Waverly fit onto her. Her taste was indescribable, and the energy radiating out from her was more intense than anything Nicole had felt before with anyone.

Suddenly, Nicole felt Waverly pulling back. Nicole stopped, and Waverly stood there, gaping. She looked at Nicole and said, “What…..was that?”

“I….I’m sorry,” said Nicole. “But I was leaving and you might be about to die, and I just….I didn’t want to miss anything.”

Waverly didn’t say anything at first. She stood in the hallway, trying to collect her thoughts. Finally, she turned to Nicole and said, “Look, I’m….flattered that you think of me….er….that way, but now is not the time for that. I have a lot of responsibilities to the rebellion, and—”

“Sure,” said Nicole, getting it. It was the same speech everyone had heard a million times.

“Maybe if things were different…” started Waverly, but she trailed off.

Nicole bit her lip, and then blurted out, “Ask me again.”

“What?”

“Ask me to stay and fight again. I’ll deal with the consequences of not paying off that debt, I’ll stick around and help you, just…..ask me again.” _Please_, she tried to make her eyes say.

“That’s not how this works,” said Waverly. “People choose to be here….or not.”

Inside Nicole, two sides raged – the side that wanted to survive the day and pay off Bunny and not get killed….and the part that wanted to stop the church, give up her nomadic lifestyle, and settle down somewhere, and with someone; the part that wanted not just to survive, but to _live_.

Sensing her hesitation, Waverly nodded sadly. “Goodbye, Nicole,” she said. “And thank you…for everything.” With that, Waverly turned and left, heading to catch up with the other commanders, and leaving Nicole where she stood….alone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So let's talk about that chapter...
> 
> I didn't originally plan on having Wayhaught kiss this soon, but as I was writing the scene it just kept crying out to me to go that way. Hopefully I portrayed it well.
> 
> The briefing was fun to write for a couple reasons. First, the movie Star Wars notably has a few different pronunciations for Leia's name. In the briefing scene, the general conducting it says, "Princess Lee-uh" (spelt phonetically). Given the age of the fellow, I thought it'd be fun to throw him in here and have it happen again, although this time we have someone willing to correct him.
> 
> Second....yeah, that was a giggle fest. Sometimes I just can't help myself.


	21. Chapter 21

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The attack on the God's Tower commences as the destinies of all our characters come to a head

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Nearing the end. I wrote this and the next two entries over the course of three days. I was a little worried that with so much happening, I'd lose track if I spaced it out, and I like to think that that's right. Even if it isn't, I still had fun doing this

At the edge of the Lihevhat system, the _God’s Tower_ finished its six-hour journey. On board, technicians milled about, scanning each solar body for any signs of life that would indicate a potential for housing the rebel base.

Del Rey paced back and forth restlessly as Clootie stood vigil. “I thought you’d be happier, Robert. You finally killed Holliday, and now you get to watch as the last remnants of that little insurrection go up in dust.”

“Happy?” countered Del Rey. “This day has seen too many close calls and miraculous returns. I won’t be ‘happy’ until your prediction comes to pass.”

Clootie scowled at him but said nothing. One of the technicians came on the intercom. “We have located the rebel base. They are located on a planet on the far side of the sun. Approximate time to optimal firing position is twenty-eight minutes.”

Wynonna listened intently to Black Squadron’s main commander, Jaelinn Son, as he went over everything that Wynonna had heard in the briefing room to the rest of the pilots on the flight deck. Apart from her and Hetty, they were a decent mix of humans and aliens: Jordanu Machica, a human from one of the core worlds; a plant-based Paislann who had given her name as simply ‘Moonbeam”; a slit-eyed creature that Wynonna thought might be a rare human/alien cross named Allena Zekedan; an older round-faced man who had introduced himself as Dan Washington; a slightly overenthusiastic woman who had said her name was Dax Valentina and that she was the biggest Earper to ever Earp (_whatever that means_, Wynonna had thought; and a brother-sister duo, Caleb and Carina Barrett.

As the briefing finished, Wynonna heard a clatter off to her left. She turned and saw Nicole loading some packages onto her ship. Wynonna ran to catch up with the pilot, meeting her just as she got the last one loaded. “So I guess you finally got paid, then.”

Nicole favored Wynonna with a weary look. “Guess so.”

“Does that mean you’re outta here?”

“Soon as they give the all-clear,” said Nicole. She gestured to the massive amount of activity in the hangar. “Don’t know if you noticed, but things are suddenly very busy around here.”

Wynonna nodded reluctantly. “You could still stay and help.”

“Seriously?” Nicole hefted the case and carried it up the boarding ramp. “I know you’ve been busy running around training to fly one of those fighters, so I’ll be quick: I’m not wanted here. Waverly practically said so herself.”

“Bullshit,” said Wynonna.

“No, really. I offered myself to her, said that all she had to do was ask, and she just gave me some line about choice.” She threw the package to the side and came back down, swaying slightly.

Wynonna sniffed Nicole’s breath. “Are you drunk?”

“Hey, I have had only one cup of…whatever was on the counter,” replied Nicole.

“No wonder,” said Wynonna. “Look, just do me a favor and don’t fly anywhere right away. It’ll be okay, trust me.”

“Yeah, like I trusted you and Doc to pay me,” sneered Nicole. “Go on, get outta here.”

Wynonna sighed and walked off, knowing better than to argue with someone as deep as Nicole apparently was. She crossed the hanger to her own fighter, an old X-wing style that had seen a resurgence in use and popularity in recent years. Dolls stood nearby and was being examined by Jeremy. “Okay, then,” the cyborg was saying to his companion. “You’re sure you want to do this? I can still find some other droid, probably.”

“Affirmative,” said Dolls.

“Hey, guys,” said Wynonna. “What’s going on?”

Dolls looked at her. “This model fighter requires droid assistance to operate best. I will accompany you.” Without another word, Dolls climbed to the rear of the plane and got into the hole designed specifically to fit any droid, his mechanical parts shifting around to allow him to fit in.

“Okay, then,” said Wynonna. “Thanks for asking.”

“Take care of him, will you?” said Jeremy. “I know he’s a little stiff, but he’s also the best friend I have.”

“That’s kinda sad, Jeremy.”

“I know.” Jeremy was silent for a second, and then suddenly Wynonna found herself being hugged tightly by the smaller being. “Sorry,” he said. “I know you don’t like hugs.”

“It’s fine,” said Wynonna. Jeremy released her, and she turned and hugged him back. “We’ll be fine. Just stay close to Waverly, okay?”

“Got it,” said Jeremy. His eyes went to her waist, and he saw Peacemaker attached. “You’re bringing that with you?”

“It’s still mine,” she said. “Don’t want anyone accidentally finding it and messing it up.”

“Understood.” He looked at her and smiled, then ran for wherever Waverly was. Shaking her head, Wynonna put her flight helmet on and saw Hetty getting into the fighter next to her. She tossed off a sarcastic salute to her old friend and clambered into the pilot’s chair, turning the fighter on. The screen lit up, and on it were the words, **That was nice of you.**

Wynonna looked around. “Hey, who put this on here?”

The words shifted, and a deep baritone voice came over the speakers. **It’s me, Wynonna…Dolls.**

Wynonna stared at the screen, then shifted to look at the unmoving robot behind her. “Dolls?”

**Yeah. I’m plugged into the ship’s system, so we can actually communicate like people for once instead of through a limited voicebox. **There was a pause while Wynonna digested this. The screen blinked, and then more words appeared. **I’m sorry about Doc.**

Wynonna nodded sadly. Before she could respond, the radio squealed. “_No need for apologies, tin man,_” came a familiar drawl over the radio. “_Wasn’t nothing any of you could have done_.”

Wynonna nearly shrieked. _“DOC?_”

“_In the flesh, so to speak_.”

**How is this possible? **asked Dolls.

“_Well, the last thing I remember is Wynonna bending over me in the hall_,” said Doc through the speaker. “_Next thing I know, everything is black but I can hear you all speaking on board the Stetson_.”

“You were electrocuted,” said Wynonna. “I watched…”

**That must be it**, said Dolls.** The electricity created a bridge which transferred a version of Doc that was saved on his chip to something in the gun.**

“That doesn’t even make sense!”

“_Still true, though_,” said Doc. “_At least, it explains why I don’t remember dying. Now I’m just a voice in the gun on the radio. Still charming, though_.

Wynonna rolled her eyes as a **>:-( **appeared on the screen. In front of her, a flight controller indicated that it was her turn to launch. She fired the booster rockets and pulled back and up on the stick, causing the fighter to rise into the air. “Okay then, boys,” she said. “Since we’re all here, who feels like kicking some ass?”

“_Indubitably._”

**Hell, yeah.**

“Alright, then,” said Wynonna with a grin, launching the ship forward. “Let’s do this.”

Nicole watched from the _Stetson_ cockpit as fighter after fighter launched into the sky. According to flight control, until they were all airborne, she was effectively grounded. Nicole thought about going anyway – despite what she had told Wynonna, she was actually completely sober – but decided it might be better to wait for the skies to clear for a bit.

Beside her, Nedley shifted uneasily. “We could still join up with them, Nicole,” he said. “It wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world.”

“It is when the world doesn’t want you in her – it.” Nedley’s eyebrow raised but he said nothing, just leaning back in his seat and waiting for an okay from either flight control or his captain. Rather than talk, she turned on the radio to listen in to the sounds of the battle.

Waverly kept a close on the screens in front of her. Currently they showed thirty active fighters spread out across three squadrons of ten each. The last of Black Squadron, Wynonna, had just left its berth, with the other Blacks, along with all of Gold and White, already in air and breaking atmosphere. She turned to one of the people beside her. “How much time do we have?”

The tech looked at his screen. “According to this, twenty minutes. After that…”

Waverly nodded and looked back at the map. The _God’s Tower_ was highlighted in red a few inches from the edge of the map. Their own position planetside was nearly directly opposite the point at which the station had entered the system, and thanks to solar rotation and ship speed, that position would be lethal in less than twenty minutes. Beside her, Jeremy seemed to sense her discomfort and put his hand on her shoulder. “It’ll be okay, Waverly,” he said. “They’ll do it.”

Waverly nodded at his words. “I hope you’re right.”

In space, Wynonna stared ahead at the giant tower. When she had approached it last time, in the company of Doc and Nicole and Nedley, she had still been reeling from seeing the destruction the church had wrought on Alderaan, not to mention everything that had happened on Purgatory. Then, it had been four ill-equipped people against an unknowable behemoth. Now, there were thirty of them with a plan and starfighters and the barest glimpse of a prayer.

Wynonna hoped it was enough. Keeping her mic off, Wynonna said, “Either of you boys ever face something like this before?”

“_Yes, once_,” drawled Doc. “_From what I understand, it did not end well._”

**The biggest spacefaring vessel previous to this was an early tourist vessel, measuring two miles in length**, said Dolls. **This station exceeds that by a factor of fifty.**

“Shit…” said Wynonna. Over the radio, she heard Jaelinn saying, “_All wings, report in_.”

_Here we go_, thought Wynonna. The members of the squad went through check-in, and after Hetty answered with her ID check of Black Three, Wynonna keyed her mic and said, “Black Five, standing by.”

There was a pause as the leaders of Gold and White squadrons reported back to base, and then she heard the magic words: “_All wings reporting in. Engage the God’s Tower at will._”

“Copy, base. Black Squadron, prepare to engage. Lock X-Foils in attack position; focus all energy towards forward shields.”

Wynonna hit a toggle on her panel, and the single wings on either side of her each split into thinner wings, giving her four guns instead of two and exposing the dual missile launchers on either side. As the group neared the station, the ships started shaking. “Passing through their magnetic field,” said Jaelinn.

“Magnetic field?” said Washington. “That thing has a gravity well?”

“Cut the chatter, Four! All ships, head in by two on bearing thirty-seven-mark-two, switching to seventy-eight-point-one by negative twenty! Find that entry! Gold Squadron, head for the front – get their attention! White, covering!”

Cries of “Copy” rang out over the radio as Gold and White squadrons rocketed towards the front of the _God’s Tower _to engage defense turrets on that side, drawing attention away from the back. Meanwhile, the ten ships of Black Squadron split into groups of two to try and locate the trench and soften their defenses in back – Jaelinn and Dax; Hetty and Washington; Wynonna and Zekedan; Moonbeam and Caleb; and Carina and Jordanu. From the front of the station, Gold Leader broadcast, “_Incoming BEEs! All fighters, split and engage, split and—_” followed by a brief burst of static.

“Black Leader, this is Nine. We’re heading for the surface,” broadcast Carina.

“Copy, Nine. Seven, Eight, back them up on the south. Everyone else, north. Good luck.”

“Watch out for those guns, sis,” said Caleb.

“Copy, Eight.”

Wynonna grinned at the smile she heard in Carina’s voice. Below her, laser blasts started coming up towards her. She pulled left and narrowly avoided them. “Shit!”

Behind her, Allena sped for the turret that had fired at Wynonna and moments later it had detonated. “You okay, Earp?”

“Just a graze. Thanks.” Allena wiggled her wings in response, and the pair kept on.

Del Rey strode through the halls of the station. Alarms were sounding throughout as various support staff rushed to and fro, trying to figure out what, if anything, they should do. A muffled explosion sounded above them as one of their turrets was taken out, followed by a slightly larger one indicating a crashed fighter.

_What is their plan? _mused Del Rey. Beside him, a soldier was approaching. “Yes?”

“Sir,” said the soldier. “While most of the ships are concentrated out front, a smaller group has broken off towards the back. Your interceptor is being readied as we speak, should you wish to engage them.”

_Ah. _“Excellent work, soldier. How many rebel fighters are still in the main group?”

“A handful, sir – less than five.”

“Once the remaining fighters out front have been dealt with, pull them back. Meanwhile, send the twins to my hangar. We’ll take care of the rest.”

“_Base, this is Gold Nine. The fighters have nearly taken us all—_”

The transmission was cut off by a burst of static. Waverly looked to Perry. “Was that the last of the distraction team?”

Perry nodded. “We’re down to just the primary force now.”

“Oh, God…” Waverly glanced at Jeremy. The initial plan had been after five minutes of work out front, any remaining ship from Gold and White would detour around back to provide cover for Black. If they were all destroyed, though….

“Eight minutes to range,” said a technician.

“Princess Waverly!” shouted someone. “A freighter just tore out of the hangar!”

“What?” Waverly ran over to the person who’d shouted. “Do you have them?”

“Yes, here.” Waverly took the microphone the communications officer handed to her just in time to confirm her fears. “Nicole!” she shouted. “What are you doing?”

“_Choosing,_” said the pilot. “_It’s too bad….I actually would have liked to get to know you better…._all_ of you_.” The radio clicked off. “Nicole!” Waverly shouted into the microphone, but nothing happened. “_Nicole!_” She turned, and saw Jeremy and Perry watching her with the same look on their faces. “She’s gone.”

“_Black Leader, this is Base. Distraction Team has been eliminated. Begin your attack runs now_.”

“Copy, Base. Commencing—”

“Wait!” said Moonbeam. “Fighters incoming! Three marks at two—” A giant explosion ripped through Moonbeam’s ship as the fighters tore her open. Wynonna got a glimpse of a full wing of three fighters through the debris. As she watched, the fighters whirled around and went after Jaelinn as he entered the trench leading to their primary target, “Base!” she said. “We got three additional BEEs on this side! They just took out Moonbeam and are heading for Leader!”

“_Copy, Five! All remaining fighters, protect Black Leader!_”

Wynonna pulled her stick right and started following Jaelinn down, keeping an eye out for those fighters. “Come on, come on, where are you…” She glanced right and saw Washington keeping pace with her. “Dan! You got eyes on those BEEs?”

“I’m looking, but I don’t see any—wait! They just popped, about 1,700 meters and closing!”

“Stay tight, we’ll get them together.” Wynonna checked her radar and saw another wing closing in the distance. “Careful – I got three more showing up on radar.”

“Good, that makes them almost even numbers-wise,” laughed Dan. “Black Leader, where are you?”

“Entering the shaft now,” said Jaelinn. “Smaller than I expected.” There was a series of grunts, and then, “Dammit!”

Jordanu was first on the comm. “Black Leader, check in!”

“Laser barrier at the end tripped…got the back of me…going down…” Another burst of static followed by silence.

Wynonna swore. “Okay, I’m heading in. Dan, cover me!”

“Roger,” said Dan. “I—”

A giant fireball of compressed oxygen lit up the spot where Dan’s ship had been. Wynonna screamed and looked for the fighter, but saw only Hetty’s ship nearby. “Hetty! You see which way they went?”

“Negative, but you’re clear for the shaft! I’ll cover you!”

“No way – BEEs first, then the shaft!” Wynonna checked her radar and saw only two ships close by, Hetty behind her and a single BEE approaching fast. “There!” she shouted. “Stay behind me in case he turns off.”

“Roger,” said Hetty. Wynonna lined up the target. He was still over a thousand meters distant, but at the speed they were approaching each other…

**Wynonna!** Dolls spoke up suddenly, his voice filling the cockpit. **We’re being targeted from behind!**

_Crap. _“Hetty, someone’s on our tail! Take care of—

(_BEE fighter approaching…_)

(_Hetty flew through—_)

(_targeted from behind_)

Wynonna’s eyes widened as she jerked the stick forward, barely avoiding the fire from Hetty. Instead of hitting her, the lasers sailed through space and took out Wynonna’s original intended target. Wynonna wheeled her ship around. “Hetty! What the hell?”

“_Five, what’s going on?_” said the radio.

“It’s Hetty – Three! She just tried to take me down!”

“Technically, I tried to take an Earp down,” came Hetty’s voice. The voice grew darker and said, “Call it a family debt.”

“You’re a revenant,” Wynonna whispered. Switching to wideband, she shouted into the mic, “All ships! Three is a double-agent! Engage Black Three immediately!”

There was a confused rush of voices, but over them all Hetty said, “Did I ever tell you about _my_ daddy?” A volley of lasers were fired at Wynonna’s fighter, and Wynonna barely dodged them, trying to put as much distance between her and Hetty as possible.”

“I think you mentioned him once. Died young, right?”

“Died at the hands of your father!” Hetty shouted back, her voice shaking with rage. She fired again and hit something in back. The ship slowed down, and Dolls said, **She hit the north booster coil! Expect a little slowdown for the next—**

“Just fix it, alright?” Dolls went to work, while Wynonna said, “So you were there that night, then? You’re another one of the seven?”

“Christ, Wynonna, how dumb are you? How do you think we knew where you lived? Because you invited me over so damn much!”

One of the other fighters arrived, guns blazing. Carina fired across Hetty’s nose forcing her to pull up. Wynonna fired her afterburners and put just enough distance between her and Hetty’s ship. She turned around just in time to see the bloom of fire as Hetty took out Carina’s ship and hear Caleb’s anguished yell. Lining herself up, Wynonna held the trigger down and unloaded everything she could onto Hetty’s ship, causing a fireball of her own.

_It’s not a shot from Peacemaker, but…_ “Heal from that, bitch.”

In the control room, Clootie paced back and forth. “Why is this taking so long?” she demanded.

One of the men in front of her rose and looked at her. “Forgive us, mother. Del Rey ordered us to pull all fighters from the front back in.”

Clootie’s jaw nearly dropped. “He did _what? _Get me a line to him, now!”

The communications officer scrambled and immediately opened a channel to Del Rey. “Robert, where the _fuck_ are you?”

“_Hello, Constance_,” came the smug reply. “_I felt like engaging in a bit of sport. Try not to die before I get back._”

Clootie screamed and threw the receiver down. “Worried about me dying, are you?” she said to the air. “The only people dying are those pathetic rebels on that miserable planet. Tactical!” she screamed. “The second the last Rebel ship out there is blown away, I want you to ensure that the next ship is Del Rey’s! Is that understood!”

The officer nodded in agreement and immediately began tracking the position of Del Rey’s ship. Switching targets, Clootie said, “How much longer?”

The helm officer consulted his readouts. “At current speed, five minutes.”

“We’ve got five minutes and we’re at half-strength,” said Dax. “Anyone feeling lucky?”

“Me,” said Wynonna. “Caleb, Allena, you two stay out here and keep an eye out for any more fighters. Everyone else, get me to that hole. I’ll take it from there.”

“Roger,” said Jordanu. The five fighters split up into three different directions – Caleb heading for the south end of the building, Allena the north, and everyone else straight for the trench. Wynonna dove into the trench and was instantly reminded of the canyons back on Purgatory, only now she was flying through one instead of driving through it. “How far to the entrance?” she said.

“Thirty seconds,” said Jordanu. “Any fighters in the area?”

“Copy!” said Dax. “Three just behind us!”

“Pull out!” said Wynonna. “I’ll manage!”

“There’s no room! We’re locked in!”

“There is! Just pull straight up and—” Dax’s fighter exploded, the fire from one of the BEE’s tearing through where she had been seconds ago. Wynonna drifted left and said, “Jordanu, seriously, get out of here! The shaft is just ahead!”

“Copy!” said Jordanu. “Sor—”

Another explosion. Wynonna looked and saw that those fighters were still behind her…and now, they had a clear shot at her.

In the central fighter, Robert Del Rey grinned. “She’s mine,” he told his wingmen.

Waverly looked at Jeremy with fear and worry etched on her face. “She’s not gonna make it, is she?”

Jeremy didn’t say anything, but held the princess’s hand, waiting.

“Wait!” said the comm tech.

One of the BEEs blew up suddenly. Wynonna turned and saw the miraculous sight of the _Stetson_ flying _sideways_ down the trench.

“Yeee-HAWW!!!” echoed over the radio, as Nicole took out the BEE on the other side before diving low – or right, from her perspective – and literally _pushing _the much smaller remaining craft out of the way, its rear engines sputtering as it spun away from the battle.

“Jesus, Haught, what the hell are you doing?” said Wynonna.

“Saving your ass. Now shut up and get in that hole!”

“That’s what she said!” said Wynonna. The cackling heir turned and saw her entrance. She looped out of the trench and back into it by the skin of her teeth, barely thinking about what direction she was turning and keeping the lasers firing at all times. Ahead of her, the barrier that had taken out Jaelinn loomed and she aimed for the ceiling, her guns making short work of the generators up there. The barrier flickered and died, and Wynonna shot through into the massive central chamber where the main fusion reactor keeping the _God’s Tower_ active.

“Here goes nothing,” said Wynonna, and fired every missile and laser she had at the reactor.

The explosion of the _God’s Tower_ was so bright that Nicole had to cover her eyes, despite the shielding and dimming effects of the cockpit glass.

“My god,” said Nedley.

Nicole immediately had the radar up and active. “Do you see her?”

Nedley shook his head. “No…and if she was anywhere close to the center when that happened…”

“Shut up,” said Nicole as she activated the radio. “All remaining fighters, if any of you see Wynonna Earp’s ship—”

“_Throw her a party?_” From the massive and unnatural fireball in the center of space, a lone fighter suddenly rocketed forward, cartwheeling insanely. Cheers filled the airwaves as Wynonna sped away from the debris. In the control room on Lihevhat, the reaction was even more exuberant, with people hugging whoever was closest to them and cheers of joy and relief shaking the support beams of the cavernous structure. Jeremy leaped off the floor, turned, and kissed the first person he saw square on the lips – the young lead technician who had been examining him and Dolls before everything. Embarrassed, Jeremy pulled back quickly and whispered, “Sorry.”

“Oh, it’s okay,” said the tech. “I’ve had worst first kisses, and that was definitely top….eight.”

“Eight? R-really?”

The technician nodded, and Jeremy immediately stuck his hand out. “I’m Jeremy.”

“Okay, future reference, Jeremy? Intros usually come before kissing.” The young man took Jeremy’s hand and kissed the knuckles on it like a courtier before a king. “Robin.”

“No, I’m…oh, you’re Robin. Okay. Hi.”

“Hi. Is your friend okay?”

Jeremy turned and saw Waverly leaning over the situation map that filled the room. Despite the tenor of the room, the princess hadn’t moved from her position, and Jeremy thought he could see tears running down her cheeks. “Waverly?” he said. “Are you okay?”

As if hearing her name had woken her up, Waverly stood straighter and quickly wiped the tears away. “Yes, Jeremy…yes, I’m…” She leaned forward and hugged him tightly. Before Jeremy could figure out an appropriate response, she had turned and was back at the map. “Good job, everyone,” she said to those still in space. “Get back here quick – there’s a lot of celebrating to do. Thank you.” She turned away, and then paused and said one more time. “Really…thank you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For the additional fighter pilots, I basically held a recruitment call on Twitter and at my job to get some names from people who might want to appear. in the story. Thanks to all who contributed their imagined names, and apologies if they feel bad about not surviving...though in defense, I also killed the character who was my alias.
> 
> Oh, and for any Old West AU fans....yes, that was a Yeehaw!Nicole shoutout. "You Made Me Love You" forever, crew


	22. Chapter 22

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A celebration occurs as heroes return home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, here it is. The (technical) last chapter. Never thought I'd make it this far, but it has been a LOT of fun. Enjoy the party, don't drink too much, and I'll see you after the epilogue.

By the time they had made it back planetside and landed in the hangar, it seemed as if every single person in the rebel base had made it there to see them. The crowd was so immense that there wasn’t even room for Wynonna to put down a ladder to get out of the cockpit. Instead, she slid off the side of the plane and was immediately caught and hoisted onto the shoulders of Caleb and Allena and paraded around like a queen.

“Hey, Earp!” someone shouted behind her, and Wynonna turned and saw Nicole striding up, with people trying to congratulate her as much as they were Wynonna. Wynonna slid off the shoulders of her fellow survivors and onto the floor and went up to the smuggler. “Outta here as soon as they give the all-clear, huh?”

“Well, I was bored, got tired of waiting, and then I saw you getting your ass kicked, so—”

“Oh, you beautiful bitch.” Wynonna laughed and hugged Haught just as the crowd quieted down. “What?” said Wynonna. “You never saw two women…oh.” She trailed off as she saw Waverly approaching them, looking both serious and excited at the same time.

“You came back,” said the princess, looking directly at Haught.

“Well, technically, I never left, I just—” but whatever she had been about to say was cut off as Waverly ran up to her and kissed her long and deep. The whole crowd was silent throughout, and when the kiss finally broke, Waverly whispered, “Thank you.”

Nicole smiled softly. “You’re welcome.”

Wynonna was about to pull the two apart when a loud clanking sounded from behind them. The trio turned and saw Dolls being pulled from the cockpit….or what was left of him. He was covered in scorch marks, some of his wiring was exposed, and the parts of his face that had been covered by a layer of fake skin had been fully exposed.

“Dolls!” cried Jeremy. Everyone turned and saw the young cyborg rush forward towards his partner. “Oh, man…you look horrible. What happened?”

Wynonna cleared her throat. “That…might be my fault. I mean, since I blew up the station from the inside out.”

Jeremy turned his worried gaze on Wynonna. “They…they can fix him, though, right?”

Wynonna turned to Waverly, who still had an uncomfortably tight grip on Nicole. “Can they?”

“Yeah…yes! Of course we can!” She looked around and saw Robin behind Jeremy. “Right, Robin?”

Robin followed her gaze to Dolls. “Oh, wow, that is bad!” Jeremy’s eyes grew wide, but Robin kept poking at Dolls. “Man, this is gonna take a while….new skin, updated programs—”

“Maybe a better voice box, too,” put in Wynonna.

“Oh, sure, this is an original, so the box is bound to be pretty basic…gimme a day or two, and he should be fine.”

“Let us know when he’s ready,” said Waverly, as Robin pulled some people from the crowd to take Dolls to his office. She turned around and hugged both Wynonna and Nicole. “Come on. We need to get you two debriefed.”

“Can’t wait,” said Nicole with a grin. Waverly pretended to be offended, but the giggle that escaped her showed her pleasure.

“You guys go ahead,” said Wynonna. “I need a minute.”

Nicole approached her, concerned. “You okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. Go…..go get debriefed.”

Nicole smiled big and turned to catch up with Waverly. Before leaving, she looked back at Wynonna and said, “He’d be proud of you, you know. Doc.”

Wynonna waved her hand at Nicole and gestured for her to get moving. As the crowd dispersed, Wynonna leaned back against her X-Wing and knocked once on the side of it. The voice of Doc said, “_She’s right, you know. I am proud of you_.”

“You’re still dead, though,” returned Wynonna.

“_Come on, girl. It’s like Wyatt said – death is natural. It should have happened long ago for me._”

“Uh-huh. And what about this…ghost or spirit or whatever you are now?”

Doc was silent for a moment. “_Well_,” he finally said. “_Guess we’ll cross that bridge when we get there_.”

“Right,” said Wynonna. “Well, one thing’s for sure,” she said, talking to the gun as she walked away from the ship. “We are definitely gonna get you a better way of communicating.” The gun grew warm in her hands and Wynonna saw it starting to glow slightly. She sighed. “Alright, that _is_ kinda cool.”

Nicole pulled at the collar of the dress shirt she was wearing. “I hate having to wear these.”

Wynonna smirked beside her. “Oh, I thought Waverly said you looked good in a proper naval dress outfit. Plus, that hat is _adorable_.”

Nicole smiled and ducked her head, the same way she had been doing whenever someone asked her about Waverly. “I mean…yeah…”

Behind them, Nedley said, “It’s just for a couple hours, Nicole. After that, you can rip it off and throw it away.”

“Please do not mention her ripping clothes off and throwing them away ever, thank you,” gagged Wynonna.

It was the following afternoon. Between the three of them, Nicole estimated that they had shaken the hands of every officer, soldier, maintenance staff, and resident civilian in the complex twice. The party thrown had, in Wynonna’s words, been, “the bitchingest kegger in the entire history of bitching keggers”. Nicole couldn’t even begin to imagine where they had gotten all the food and drinks that were served, but she had a good feeling that both the forest surrounding the mountain base and the shelves of the mechanical shop were somewhat less empty than it had been two days ago.

Naturally, she had spent every possible second with Waverly.

Once the liquor and liquor-adjacent liquids had been consumed and everyone had spent a few hours getting rid of their hangovers, Waverly had conferred with the other commanders about what was to be done, which was how Nicole had ended up here, in her old naval dress outfit and a brimmed hat that someone had found somewhere at her request, waiting with her friends at the entrance to an immense stadium of a room in what felt very much like a second graduation (to be fair, though, she did like the hat). Beside her, Wynonna had managed to scrounge up a half-decent blouse and some intact leggings, although her leather jacket still dominated for attention.

Ahead of them, a fanfare started playing, and the trio took that as their cue. They marched into the hall in formation, where every person they had met over the past three days stood at attention. At the other end of the room, standing on a slightly raised dais, was Waverly. She had changed into a sea-green gown for the occasion and had let her hair fall naturally in waves down her back, and beside her stood Jeremy, holding a case containing three medals.

As soon as Nicole and the others reached the dais, the whole room burst into applause. After a few seconds, Waverly raised her hand, and the room quieted. “Hello, everyone. Thank you for being here. I don’t mean here in this room, today…I mean here, on this planet, with this group; as a part of this group, even. Lord Clootie and his church are powerful enemies, and the safest route might seem to be simply to burrow down and accept things as they are. Unfortunately, we can’t do that anymore.

“The _God’s Tower_ may have been the pinnacle of their cruelty, but we can’t think that it was the limit of it. A group capable of destroying…” Her voice faltered for a second. “Capable of destroying a planet is capable of much worse. With near immortal creatures at his disposal and a complete and utter disregard for sentient life, it can no longer be doubted that Lord Clootie is the biggest threat the galaxy – perhaps the universe – has ever faced.

“Yet despite that, _he can be beaten_. We have proved that here, in this system. Through sheer determination, through unyielding will, through dogged strength, these three people we honor today have shown that there is still a force for good in this universe, and that it has agents willing to do what is necessary in its name in order to preserve it for future generations.”

With that, Jeremy stepped forward and presented the medals to Nicole. “For wisdom and courage….Sheriff Randall Nedley.” She slipped the medal around Nedley’s neck, and although Nicole knew he’d never admit it, she would swear on her life that he was blinking back tears.

Waverly stepped back and pulled out a second medal. “For bravery and loyalty….Captain Nicole Haught.” Nicole stepped forward and bowed her head, and Waverly put the medal around her neck, letting her hands linger slightly. Nicole whispered, “Doing anything after?”

Waverly let out a stifled laugh and lightly slapped Nicole’s cheek. She stepped back to the box and pulled out the last medal. “For honor and love….Wynonna Earp.” Nicole almost expected some sly remark to emerge from Wynonna’s mouth, but instead she kept her composure, and the bestowing of the medal went without incident. Wynonna stepped back down, running her hands over the medal. Waverly turned back to the crowd and said, “Ladies and Gentlemen….your heroes!”

The crowed burst into cheers so loud that Nicole felt them in her bones. Her and Nedley and Wynonna looked at them all, cheering for three people who had been cast away and forgotten, and now were probably some of the most well-known names in history. It felt….it felt…

“It’s weird,” said Nicole aloud.

“It sure is,” said Nedley. “Also good, though.”

“True that, Neds,” said Wynonna.

“Oh no, she’s giving you nicknames now,” said Nicole. “Now you’ll never be rid of her.”

“Ah, that’s alright. She’s family, now, just like you, and family’s home.”

“Home,” said Wynonna, tasting the word. She shrugged. “We’ll see.”

As the crowd’s applause started dying down, Waverly stepped forward again. “Okay, everyone! This was a lovely ceremony, but we still have a lot to do to get ourselves safe and running again! You can all get autographs later, but for now, let’s get moving, okay?”

Slowly, the crowd started to disperse. Waverly turned and hugged Wynonna tightly. “Thanks for coming for me.”

Wynonna laughed. “You ever gonna stop thanking me for that?”

“Mmmm….no.”

“Good, because I always will. Promise.”

“Good,” said Waverly, breaking the hug. She moved onto Nedley. “Sheriff…” she said. She leaned in to give Nedley a hug of his own, and after a moment he melted into it. “It has been an honor to have known you.”

“Likewise, young lady.”

Waverly released Nedley and finally came to Nicole. She took Nicole’s hands in her own and raised them to her lips, kissing each hand once before moving onto her mouth and stopping before she got there. “See you later?”

Breathless, Nicole said, “Your place or mine?”

“Yours,” the princess replied, before finally kissing her captain and walking off, holding Nicole’s hand until the last possible moment.

Once she was out of the room, Wynonna pretended to gag. “Jesus….save some of that soap for people who haven’t showered in a year, Haught-Stuff. They probably need it more.”

“Whatever you say, Wynonna,” said Nicole, not really listening.

Nedley cleared his throat. “Well, if you ladies don’t mind, I’m gonna see if there’s any food left in the commissary. I’ll check in later.”

“Bye, Nedley,” said Wynonna. Nedley raised his arm in a wave and went outside, leaving Wynonna and Nicole alone on the stage. “Hell of a week,” she said.

Nicole nodded. “Hell of a week.” She faced Wynonna. “Listen, Wynonna, if you actually have a problem with me dating Waverly—”

“No, no, I don’t have a problem. She’s an adult, you’re an adult, she can date who she wants.”

“Okay, good. Because from what you said before—”

“Oh, that?” Wynonna waved her hand dismissively. “That was just talk. I wouldn’t actually kill you or anything.”

“Well, good. That’s....that’s good, because I really do like her, and—”

“Unless something required me to, of course.”

Nicole groaned. “Wynonna, seriously – what is it with you and her?”

“Hey, I’m just trying to be responsible for her. The rest of her family is gone, so….sisters gotta stick together, right?” Wynonna clapped her on the shoulder. “You get it, yeah?”

“Yeah, yeah, I—” Nicole’s mouth dropped as the rest of what Wynonna said clicked into place. “Wait, _what?_”

“Think I’m gonna join Nedley on his little lunch hunt after all,” Wynonna called over her shoulder as she went for the exit. “You coming?”

“I…..you….” Nicole’s mouth struggled to work, and finally she could only form only one word. “_Wynonna!_”


	23. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A conversation in space

In the cockpit of his own personal BEE, Robert Svane, a.k.a. Bobo, a.k.a Robert Del Rey, raged endlessly, much as he had been doing off and on for the past twenty-six hours.

_How could this have happened? HOW?_

He didn’t know. And he very much hated not knowing the answers to problems. That meant that those with the answers could advance before him.

_Holliday…Peacemaker….Clootie….EARP…_

Fine. The fates wanted to play that game? He could play, too, and with a much better weapon than a stupid _gun_.

Opening the menu on his in-flight console, Bobo pulled up the list of all his agents. He scrolled down until he found the name he wanted. Waving his hand across it, the computer began dialing in the frequency and number of the person on the other end.

_‘Person’_. _Right. Angel of Death, more like_. The call went through, and a tired sounding voice on the other end said groggily, “Herro?”

“Hey, baby,” said Bobo. “You got your face on?”

Any pretense of sleep vanished from the other voice. “Bobo…” There was a mix of fear and desire in the response. _Good_. “What do you want?”

“A simple question, my dear. How would you like—”

“To be payed for tipping your boys off about our friends at Purgatory? Yeah, I would. Weird how that money vanished five minutes after I got it.”

“Funny you should mention that….what if I gave you even more to hunt them down yourself?”

The voice was silent at first, but finally the bounty hunter known as Rosita picked up the mic again. “I’m listening….”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well! There you have it! Bobo picking up some outside help for a little revenge! Will he get it? What's his history with Rosita? How long until Dolls is repaired? Am I as bad as I fear at writing the lovey stuff? For some answers to some questions, find out next month when I get going with episode 2, "The Earp Heir Strikes Back"
> 
> (that last one I actually do care about...experience has not taught me much, that's all I mean to say, so if you got tips or words, DM me @bmovies212)


End file.
